Despondent
by galangalang2
Summary: Set after the Other Side imploded, a story about the conflicting and similar nature of feelings within two dynamics.
1. In Loving Memory Of

Despondent

"Bonnie?" A light-headed Damon squinted his eyes at a glossy, caramel coated body. Bonnie lay in the grass on her side, surrounded by trees arranged, almost ritually, around the both of them. The gray sky accentuating heavily on their dire situation.

Damon's last memory is saying goodbye to Elena. Anything after that he can't recall. He only remembers her teary-eyed and pleading. The bags under her eyes swollen immensely as she rubbed her fingers through her hair. _I peaked_, some of his last words replayed in his mind like a broken record. He had no clue why.

Bonnie awakens frightened and cold. She folds her arms in an attempt to warm her naked body. She twitches her head to the left, feeling a presence behind her.

"Bonnie Bennett?" Damon says in complete shock.

"Oh my god, Damon— do NOT come any closer!" She cradles herself, trying to hide her naked body from curious eyes.

"Oh, get over yourself, Bon-Bon," He says with a smirk. "Just tell me where the hell we are."

"Because I would know lying here naked in sweat," says Bonnie with a shaky voice.

Unlike Damon, she remembers it all. The other side imploding in on them. All of the supernatural souls crying out into the oblivion, into the void. She saw Lexi, Vicki, Silas, and Markos appearing in shutters, being ripped apart by some unknown force. Their limbs being tossed around and juggled. As satisfying as it was to see Silas' arms be tugged from different directions and torn apart, her seeing Lexi go through that was unbearable. The blood seemed to never stop pouring with her, nor the tears. The one thing that kept her strutting along was the familiar touch of Damon's fingers. Though she couldn't see him, she could feel his hand. His nervous thumb brushing across her knuckle. It comforted her. There was also a darkness; alluring in all its nuisances. The tempting voices, notably two: her Grams and a different, baseless voice that wanted to lead her another way. She listened to her grams and followed her voice, dragging Damon with her.

As Bonnie followed her Grams' voice, the darkness began to dissipate and a light emerged. It engulfed the area around Bonnie including above and below her, all around her. She followed the light as it conquered the darkness, turning around and facing Damon. He was frantic and stirred. His eyes were widened. He opened his mouth to say something, but he only whimpers. Bonnie could see he was terrified, horrified even. She looks down and grabs hold of his other hand.

"We'll get through this…" She said to him with a stern look and sniffles. "I promise, I will get us through this."

"I saw…" His eyes narrowed and he looked to the side.

"What? Damon, what'd you see?" Bonnie moved her head to look into his eyes. "Damon!"

"Are you even scared?" Damon snapped at Bonnie, removing his hands from hers. She wasn't expecting that. Not because it felt like he was attacking her but because she hasn't even pondered that question herself. She blinked and looked into the white space behind him. Was she scared?

Damon's eyes reflected off the light as he stared at her. "Are you ever scared, Bonnie Bennett?" He asked her with less hostility. The tone of his voice softened and he looked off into the white space behind her, aimlessly. It was like he became absent-minded all of a sudden.

"Yes. I'm scared. We both are." She shrugged nonchalantly. "But here we are, right? I mean, you saw Lexi…" Bonnie couldn't speak about it without breaking down. Damon started shaking his head. He saw it, he just did not want to relive or talk about it again. "She just… was torn—"

"STOP! Bonnie. Please," he asked her through gritted teeth.

"I'm just saying! If that didn't happen to us, maybe— maybe there's a chance we can get back home… to the people we love."

"We died, Bonnie. All there is now is suffering…" He leaned into her. "There is no hope." He shoved past her, walking away. He was boiling now, for some reason. The intensity of the pain he felt seconds ago accumulated into this. Anger. Resentment.

Bonnie turned around. "So what? Where are you going? We'll need each other!"

"I don't need you!" He continued walking.

She scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Of course you don't." She folded her arms. "So typical, Damon." Bonnie turned back around and shakes her head. She was so tired of Damon's impulsive antics.

He shrugged and smiled, mockingly. "Standing here, enveloped in our FEELS won't get us any— AHH!"

Bonnie whipped back around to see Damon gone. "Damon!" She screamed. A force knocks her on her back and she clutched her chest. She coughs while trying to sit up, but the force pushed her head back down. She grabbed her head and winced in pain. The force tugged at her right leg, but Bonnie fought back. She kicked at the invisible force but felt no pressure. She lay there and searched for movement. Nothing. She quickly stood up and ran.

Bonnie is knocked on her back again, almost closed-lined. The impact on her back caused blood to erupt from her mouth. It slowly drifted down her cheeks.

"Damon," she mumbled through the pain. She felt he was her last option. The only one who could save her. She reveled in the fact that this might be the end of her. And she was not ready to go. She never was. Ever since she found out about her powers she's felt obligated to protect her friends, to be the balance between what is right and wrong, and face the truth that these powers would come with a cost. This was the cost.

As she scrunched up her face, using all of her strength to fight off this unknown and powerful force, she thought of all the times she'd saved her friends. How, at times, it gave her a sense of confidence and recognition, but it slowly declined into something lesser. Sacrificing herself countless times, saving Jeremy at the expense of her powers, saving Elena from the inevitable of the other side even though Bonnie herself was seconds away from being burst into a million pieces… it's done no good.

But she still fights while this unknown thing ripped off her clothes piece by piece.

In an instant, she lost her breath. Her chest tightened and her mouth widened as she tried to catch a breath. A soft, warming breeze enclosed around her neck and she clawed at it. She inhaled, but exhaled with no result. The life was being sucked out of Bonnie Bennett.

_I don't want to die,_ she thought to herself. But something struck through her and vibrated those same emotions not too long ago…

She heard a voice. A witch. It was Grams. Relief pulsed throughout Bonnie's body as she began to breathe again. She smiled her beautiful and unique smile and turned around. She saw her Grams performing a spell. She watched her in honor. It elated Bonnie to see her Grams doing magic again, and saving her at that. Grams took a deep breath.

"Grams?" Bonnie said in disbelief. "You got your magic back and…" Tears began to swell in her eyes. "You're here!" She runs to her and wraps her arms around her. Grams rubs Bonnie's head as Bonnie buries it into her shoulder, sobbing.

"It's okay, baby. Everything's going to be fine now. You're safe."

"I thought I was going to die? What did you do?"

"I told you. I'm proud of you. And I'll be damned for I let anyone get in the way of your happiness."

"Thanks… but where am I?"

"It doesn't matter where you are, Bonnie. It matters where you're going."

Bonnie looks into Grams reassuring eyes. She feels hopeful again. And though Damon is missing, she has hope she'll find him too and take him with her. She rests her head on Grams shoulder for one last moment. She smiles again, trying to stifle a chuckle.

"OH!" Grams shouts, aching. She falls back, holding her stomach.

"Grams?!" Bonnie screams.

"Bonnie go! Run!" Grams yells back at her.

"NO!" replies Bonnie. Grams neck is forced upward and her chin jerks up. She groans in pain. Bonnie crouches in front of her, holding her. "Tell me what to do!"

Grams says nothing. She felt the pain of a thousand witches throbbing in her head. Her arm stretches outward and she screams agonizingly. It echoed.

"TELL ME WHAT TO DO!" Bonnie demanded.

"I told you… run." Grams arm is ripped off and blood lands on Bonnie's face. Grams withering face met Bonnie's eyes. "Be safe. Be happy!"

Bonnie knew what she had to do, but she didn't want to. There was no saving her Grams. She had no magic. So, she did the only thing she thought would put her mind at ease: follow through with her Grams wishes. She stood up, her eyes soaked in tears, and she ran.

Damon held out his jacket to Bonnie. She's still covering her naked body. She looks at it from the corner of her eye.

"Take it, Bonnie. Don't be so stubborn, it's not going to bite." He tossed it on her.

"You're one to talk." He tossed it on her. She puts it on and zips it up. She looks down at her skinny, filthy legs. He does too.

"It's like a dress." He says as he raises his eyebrows in surprise. He starts walking. Bonnie watches him and contemplates telling him all that has happened. She wonders if he even knows he's dead. She forgets about it and catches up to him.


	2. Wings

Chapter 2

It's 4:57 am. At least to Damon it feels that way.

He watched the clouds descend as night fell upon him. The waves far ahead of him became nothing but white fog. His thoughts spontaneously jumped from the things he held monumental in his life to the devastation that is his pride. It was almost like he was in a trance. The clouds, the night air, the thoughts… it had a hold over him and his emotions. His actions. The tension building up inside of him like a calm before the storm.

He pulls off his black thermal in the silence, sits it beside him. His forearms chilled on the muddy shore when he leans back. Bonnie silently watches him from the edge of the forest. She becomes concerned for Damon, a natural occurrence for Bonnie. Biting her lip, she struts across the sandy beach in his black, leather jacket.

"Damon," she says to him. He doesn't move. Fixated on the fog. She sits next to him, crossing her legs.

"We've got to get you pants," He remarks, "Cause I am so tired of seeing your chicken legs."

"Damon, I have something to tell you."

"I know. I put two and two together, yada, yada, yada. The other side collapsed didn't it? I just don't remember it."

"It did."

Damon faces Bonnie. "Why can't I remember it?" He asks her. She shrugs then falls on her back. A sudden rage of nostalgia chimed over her, and she remembers learning about heaven and hell— and being so drawn to the idea of eternal suffering. She imagined fire. Lava. Burning. Tortured, immoral souls in a constant flux of self-destruction. While a red devil with black horns sits upon a throne, laughing at the chaos he's created. The chaos humans accepted as they accepted their most ludicrous desires and deviant lifestyles on earth. Her imagination lived horrific and abundant through hell. So abundant she brought the images to life on paper as a child. Though now, the hell she imagined is nothing compared to the hell she is in now.

Damon itched his head. He chuckled to himself and looks away, pursing his lips. She lifted her head curious as to why he's laughing.

"What's so funny?" Bonnie asks, glaring him.

"It's just… the universe knows were the most unlikely pairing and… they decide to kill us. Together."

"Ugh," She leans her head back down. "Damon, it's not so bad."

"And look at their track record! Stefan and Elena. The doppelgangers." He shakes his head and stares into the foggy distance again. "It's like… the universe wants to keep Elena and I apart." Ever since he got here his one urge was to find a way back to Elena. It frustrates him that he can't do that.

"Maybe it's not the universe."

"Trust me, chicken legs. It's the universe."

"No, I'm serious, Damon. Maybe you and Elena just aren't meant to be."

He turns and looks at her, furrowing his brow in surprise. He chuckles. "I could say the same about you and little Gilbert."

She sits up, now trying to diffuse the conversation. "Okay, let's not make this about me."

"Hey, both of our relationships have reached an end. It's about both of us."

"I'm done talking about this." She lays down on her side, facing away from Damon.

Damon rolls his eyes and realizes the only good thing here is Bonnie. She reminds him of home, of Elena, and also, he can annoy her to no end while at the same time put a smile on her face. He knows she's putting on a front. Her body displays an act of courage that her eyes can't hide. He's watched her before in the dark of night and in the last hour before dawn. He notices the twitch of her smile when a flow of disappoint begins to rush in. This death shared between them only softens the spot Damon has for Bonnie.

Damon lay next to Bonnie while she slept peacefully on her side. He gazed up at the sky, searching for an inkling of hope. Cold air begin to seep in from the west; a sign that dawn is approaching. He turned towards Bonnie, and in an instant, she in the calmest of movements turned to face him. She inhaled and exhaled like a baby. Damon placed his hands on the underside of his cheek. Her eyes slowly opened and a confused look washed over her.

"What're you doing?" she says in a whisper.

"I was thinking about looking for something to eat… other than you," He replies in a sarcastic tone.

She sits up. "Then go. I'll be fine right here." Her chin raised.

He stands up and starts unzipping his pants casually. Bonnie covers her eyes.

"Damon!"

"It's getting cold, and if I'm going to leave you here, I'm not going to let you freeze to death. Elena wouldn't want it."

"I don't think Elena would want me wearing your pants either!"

"I don't think Elena has jurisdiction over that, now does she?" He glares at her, smugly, and tosses his pants on the ground.

"I'm not wearing them. Who knows how many days we've been out here?"

"Are you saying I smell? Cause you smell pretty sweet right now Bon-Bon, and I would love to take a bite out of you, but I won't. Because you've been oddly compelling and because you're Elena's best friend. And if somehow we find a way out of this, I can't go back spewing lies about how you got mauled by a UNICORN. When really I am the one who had a snack and got a little carried away!"

Bonnie could feel her heartbeat beating faster. Damon couldn't last one night without revealing his usually violent, but snarky self.

"Fine. But stop using Elena as an excuse for being caring. For caring about me! Because who else is there Damon!? It's just US! And you sure as hell wouldn't be here if it wasn't me."

Damon is disgusted. He walks away. "I doubt that."

"Well, believe it!" Bonnie slams her a fist into the sand. She does it again with more intensity. And again. And again with both fists. She is fuming. Her body feels like it is on fire and she just wants to jump out of her bones. If anybody can elicit these emotions from within her it is Elena Gilbert and her whiny psyche or Damon Salvatore and his prideful, childish antics. And with all that is going on, how could a person like Bonnie not be irritated with the recent events. It's all just eating away at her.

As he ventured into the forest, the solitary Salvatore thought about Bonnie's remarks on his relationship with Elena. Could she have been right? Is the prophecy of Elena and Stefan in its truest form now? All of this seems predetermined.

Damon marches through the forest scanning the environment. He looks over his shoulders and sees the tip of the sun. He touches the ring on his other hand, reminding himself that he'll be okay. Though his nerves are getting to him, he ignores them and continues trekking off into the forest. He picks up a scent. An old one. Not old referring to something archaic but old as in a smell that invokes a sense of familiarity. It's inviting and intriguing. His eyes turn dark red and his fangs elongate. It is food, just not what he is expecting.

But he is hungry. "Damn it," He says quietly through his teeth. He searches for the small animal. His nostrils flare as he lifts his chin to get a better scent. The further he goes into the forest, the stronger the scent gets. And in return, it makes him hungrier and angrier. He grunts and looks up at a branch. A strange bird is perched upon it. As dark as coal, the bird looks like a distant relative of a crow. A mutated kind of crow, because of its long beak. and hunchback stature. It is huge, but it is food and that brings a smile on Damon's face.

He launches at it. It flies away weaving through the many branches. Damon drops to the ground and rolls, picking himself back up and sprinting at his prey. He leaps and kicks off a tree, gaining momentum and closing the gap between him and his prey. Damon has determination as his motivation. And Bonnie. If he didn't find something to curb his hunger, Bonnie could possibly be his next meal.

So, this is what needs to do. And not for Elena. For Bonnie.

The bird swoops up into the sky and disappears. Damon stops and tries to track the bird. He catches no scent of it.

"NO!" screams Damon, his head lifted to the sky. The veins in his head almost burst because he yelled so loud, and with so much emotion. He can't scent anything, nothing. He drops to his knees, then to his hands, and he imagines Bonnie's succulent, witchy blood drifting down his throat. The warmth and sweet taste.

His mind is everywhere and scattered. What's he thinking? He can't—

_I can't drink from Bonnie, _he thinks to himself._ I'll kill her. I can't kill her. She really is all I have right now. _

Damon is smartening up. Trying to do the right thing and make the right decisions. If he's to have hope there is a way home, then he has to think anything is possible. So, he stands back up and zooms through the forest looking to satisfy his thirst.

The bird flies down and pierces Damon in his back, stopping him in his tracks. He groans; his face full of pain. The bird's sharp beak extends through his body and Damon belts even louder, balling his hands up into fists and collapsing to his knees.

Bonnie stands before the shore. She's been watching the sun rise in its patience and leisure as it takes its time to unfold, to become what it's supposed to be. It doesn't rush to show the world how beautiful and powerful it can be. Bonnie wondered if she was the sun at one point. Maybe it was when she'd first discovered her powers. She wasn't exactly excited, but she was grateful to have been gifted with something so uncommon. But when her grams died the first time, maybe she lost her light. Her patience was no more. And now that her grams was dismembered in front of her, she's not sure of much. There is one thing she is sure of though, and that's life. This is her life now. Even if for a moment, or eternally, this is where she is— with Damon Salvatore. And if she doesn't at least try to learn patience again… there is no use to try anything.

She steps foot into the lukewarm water and walks forward. When the water hits her waist she dives under the water and swims to a less shallow area. She rises up and the water is just above her neck.

"Wow," she chuckles in amazement. She could feel the tingle of fish and water snakes swimming and worming around her legs. A chuckle rises out of her again. She swims around a bit and starts to enjoy this vast ocean, wondering where exactly she is. There are no other visible islands around, just the one she found herself on. And is it even an island? The shoreline goes on for miles, both ways. She doesn't want to think about those things though. She just wants to enjoy this moment. A moment where she feels at ease, even if for a second.

Her head tilts back and she floats atop the water, eyes closed and smiles open.

A hand from beneath rises slowly out of the water and quickly claws at Bonnie's side. She gasps in pain. Something dark and tall shoots up out of the water behind her. She hears the sound and turns around. Another one shoots up flying into the sky, the sun still rising in the background. Two more shoot out from the water.

She starts swimming to the shore in a panic but is pulled under the water. The mysterious things that flew out of the water drop back down into the sea, not a splash in sight and creating ripples around where Bonnie was taken.

Moments pass and Bonnie inhales excruciatingly as she comes up for breath. Her neck bleeding from a bite, she puts pressure on it while trying to reach the shore with one arm. One of the mysterious things rise in front of Bonnie, an evil grin on his face. His hair is blonde and eyes a pure gold. He reveals his yellow, sharp, and cone-like teeth. Then another appears behind Bonnie, and one to either side of her. She is trapped.

"Please," Bonnie begs, "Don't kill me."

The one behind her puts a hand on her shoulder and she jumps.

"Oh, don't worry," replies the blonde one in a thick British accent. "We won't." They latch on to her with their teeth and drag her under the water.


	3. It Made Me Think of You

"You missed…" says Damon in a straining voice. The bird's beak just missed Damon's heart but he could feel the sting of the wood gently nudging against it. In a flash, he wraps his arm around the bird's end and tries pulling the bird from out of his chest. The bird barely moves, contrary to the agony Damon is going through. His teeth clinch together. The bird starts to move inch by inch, and Damon can sense relief. He looks down, his eyes wide, and sees the tip of the beak sliding into his chest.

Suddenly, the bird's beak begins to open and stretch towards Damon's heart. He yells loudly, throwing his head towards the sky, as his arms stretch wide and taut; the veins running from inside his hand up into his biceps. Blood runs down the crease between his abs.

"You okay?" Damon hears a voice, sarcastic in its tone. A girl. He looks to the left in all of his haziness, trying to work out the petite girl. _Brown skin, dark hair, _Damon thinks to himself.

"Bonnie?" He says under his breath.

"Is that your vampire girlfriend? Oh, I'd love to meet her."

He squints his eyes to get a better look, and she holds her hand up in front her and in a quick motion balls it into a fist. Damon jerks forward in pain while the bird closes its beak shut. He groans.

"What are you doing?" Damon asks, his face slammed into the ground. She walks up to him and plants her brown combat boots on him. She lifts her leg and stomps her foot into his back. Damon could feel the small wooden needles prick into his back from the boot. She yanks the bird from his back and sends it off, its large wings flapping into the distance. Then she leans towards him.

"After I get done with you. I'll get you're vampire girlfriend next— AH!" The girl's dead body flops to the ground next to Damon's. He snarls in a rage, unveiling the swollen, red eyes and sharp fangs; he latches at her neck. A set of hands grab his shoulders and tosses him away. He quickly stands up.

"HEY! She's mine!" Damon yells from afar. He bolts to the muscular vampire, pushing him into a tree. Another vampire, who is feeding on the girl, looks up at Damon and leaps on him. Damon is then hit with a series of quick, futile punches. Damon catches both fists and flings the lanky vampire over him.

He stands up in a flash just as the muscular vampire stands between him and the girl. Damon throws a punch but he catches it. He tries to throw another but the muscular vamp catches that one too.

"You're weak," A deep, raspy voice leaves the muscular vamps mouth, "Stop fighting it."

"I'm clever," Damon shot back at him, head-butting him in the face. The muscular guy stumbled back and tripped over the girl's body. Damon held his face in pain, wondering about how stupid that was.

The lanky vampire grabbed ahold of Damon's head and tries breaking his neck, but Damon fights back. He puts his hands over the other vamps', trying to pull them off of him. The tall, lanky vampire standing behind him bites his lip as Damon overpowers him. Damon removes his hands and spins around in a burst to face him, grabbing his neck and slamming him into the ground. Damon smirks.

"She's mine," Damon says to him. Firm hands wrap around Damon's neck and he's lifted into the air.

"Not today, Newvie," the muscular vamp says to him, then slams Damon into the nearest tree.

Two men throw a poor, stout girl into a room. She runs to the doors slammed in front of her and bangs on them, begging to be released.

"Have mercy on me, please! This isn't right! I'm family!" The girl pleads.

"Jenica!" A tall man in the room calls her name. Jenica turns around and sees the Royalty, sitting around a big, long table. The tall man, Allind, sits at the far end of the table, retracting his sharp-edged teeth back to human form. "That's the first time you've listened in a long while, love."

"I'm your daughter. Why are you doing this?" Jenica asks him.

"Welcome to the First Hall."

Jenica doesn't answer him. She looks around at the hungry, insatiable faces of the people sitting around the table. They are aching. It's been three weeks since their last real meal. And every three weeks a member of the commune is sacrificed. This time it happened to be Jenica's. At the hands of her father.

"This isn't right, daddy," She cries to her father, "This isn't right. It's just disgusting, and just so… I suppose it's against our nature!"

Allind snaps his fingers and the people stand up from the table. Jenica gasps and tears begin to form in her eyes. She looks to her father, who just smiled. They walk towards her in a creepy and synchronized fashion.

The doors bust open behind her and knock her to the ground. Bonnie walks in with her captors, trying to cover naked body. Four bite marks were on her neck, almost methodically; on every side of it. Blood is escaping from each of them.

The blonde one holds out a hand to Jenica. She immediately takes it, and he pulls her behind him.

"What is this nonsense?" The blonde one yells to the people. "I told you we smelled one."

"You were taking too long," Allin spits back, standing up.

"Well, here she is. A beauty."

Bonnie searches the room for one remorseful face. Mostly, all she sees is a bunch of starved, mad monsters. Their sharp teeth showing, and heavy breathing deafening. The stone, dull room accentuated on their dejected faces. Bonnie turns to the left and sees Jenica. A girl with a wary look in her eyes— she doesn't want this to go through.

"Remove Jenica from this place! We'll save her for later," Allind says. The blonde one's friends grab Jenica, but she reacts violently, moving and trying to push them off her. She just wasn't strong enough.

The blonde one looks on cautiously. "Be careful! Jesus!" They throw her out of the room and close the doors behind them.

Bonnie looked at the blonde one as a shred of anxiety became her. "Please! Don't do this! You said you wouldn't kill me!"

He cocks his head to the side. "I say a lot of things," He replies, then pushes her into the crowd of hungry things. They grab, pull, and claw at her as they bring her towards the table.

"DAMON!" Bonnie screams at the top of her lungs hoping, with a small shred, that Damon will hear her. One of the things bites into her arm and she pushes it off. The blonde one catches him by the neck.

"Not yet, dum-dum!" He yells at him and pushes him to the ground.

Bonnie stands at one end of the table, being held by two men. They whisper nasty things into her ears, almost instilling fear into her. But she didn't feed into it. The other people sit back into their seats, awaiting Bonnie.

"What's your name, girl?" Allind asks, sitting at the other end.

"Is this what you do?" Bonnie snaps on him. "You— vampire wannabe's!"

Allind stands up in anger. "You better hold your tongue, girl" He points a wooden staff at her, with an emerald attached to the end of it.

"What are you?" Bonnie says, hesitantly. The last thing Bonnie wanted to know about is more monsters. But she is not looking to die. She is not looking to leave Damon is this cursed world that she probably brought him to. Her grams told her she'd be okay, which Bonnie is smart enough to know could have many interpretations, considering her situation. Damon helped saved her. Brought her back. He was proactive. If Bonnie did anything, she would at least try to return the favor. Finding out what these people are, might be the first step to doing so.

"We are a rare, and dying breed… You called us vampire. We are NOT. We are better. Higher." Allind spreads his arms out wide. "More friendlier than the vampire kind."

"You call this friendly!" Bonnie yells. "This… this is mortifying."

"No, girl. This is survival." He snaps his fingers and Bonnie is thrown on the table. The people stand up and grab at her. They pull her to the middle and stretch her out by her limbs. Bonnie cries out loudly, hoping one of these things will feel something, but they just tug and pull her every which way.

Allind lifts the staff above his head with both hands and closes his eyes. He starts mumbling a phrase to himself in repetition. The blonde one looks at the crowd of hungry things with a blank face. He turns around and looks at the door, taking a deep breath.

He jumps when he hears Bonnie scream again, making him rush to the door and leave. Allind slams his staff on the table and those things latch onto Bonnie. She screams as the blood spills around their lips and down onto the table.

Damon opens his eyes to see the sun hanging above him. He smiles and looks at his hand. His ring worked after all. He sits up and sees the girl's neck torn apart. Darting next to her, he fiendishly licked around and inside the girl's neck. There's nothing left. Those two vampires drained the girl completely. Damon stands up, pissed and hungrier than ever. He kicks a tree. And does it again multiple times with his vamp speed until it knocks him back. He stays lying on his back and stares at the sun.

His eyes are getting dark and sullen. His mouth chapped, white, and brittle. He hadn't even removed the blood from his lips from the fallen girl… who'd he thought was Bonnie. Even after she drilled her boots into his back, he never for one second believed it could be someone else.

Damon is falling apart. He restrained himself from going back to Bonnie. Simply because he would suck her tender and warm blood dry. And that's the last thing he wants to do. He sits up, looking at the girl's body sprawled up against the tree, her blood drenched all over it.

"Why do you look like her?" He says, crawling over to her. When he reaches her, he turns her body over and looks at her face. It's not Bonnie, but he wouldn't be surprised if it was her long-lost sister or something.

He tosses her away and rolls his eyes. "Damn, Bennetts," He says to himself, "Girls are everywhere."

As he shakes his head, he realizes how stupid he's been. He's come across many dangers in the forest. Two hungry, uncontrollable vampires on the loose, birds with ingrown wood in their beaks, and creepy Bonnie look-alikes roaming the forest. He needs to make sure Bonnie is safe, or at least let her know of his condition.

_Maybe she can help me… Maybe she WILL help me, _Damon thinks to himself. He's fed her his blood to save her before, so why can't she return the favor. Damon knows Bonnie is a soldier, and a little blood won't hurt her. He just has to learn to control himself, because for some odd reason, her blood has never smelled so luscious.

He picks himself up and walks towards the girl's body, removing her shirt, pants, and boots. He takes them with him as he zooms out of the forest. Arriving on the beach, there is no sign of Bonnie. He looks around with agitated eyes, feeling butterflies in his stomach.

There's no trace of her, but soon he picked up on her scent. That's enough comfort until he can physically see and touch her. He rushes to the edge of the water to clean the bloodstains off the shirt, but when he touches the water, it burns him. He pulls away from the water quickly, staring at it in surprise.

"Vervain…" He says to himself in astonishment. "An entire ocean?!"

He ignores it and picks up on Bonnie's scent again, running down the shoreline. He stops before his leather jacket, picking it up slowly, his mouth agape. The fear is evident in his distressed eyes.

"No…" He whispers under his breath. He whispers it over and over again until it sounds like a cry help, kneeling down and burying his head into the leather jacket. He throws the girl's clothes away and lifts his head, looking towards the ocean. His pale face reveals a combination of annoyance and dread. He screams her name.

"BONNIE! BONNIE!" He screams it over and over again. He doesn't stop.

Bonnie silenced it all. The joyous laughter. The crunching and squishing of her blood against their sharp teeth. She blocked it out. She stared at the gray stone roof above her. Instantly, a surge goes through her body and awakens her. She hears their moans, laughter, and growls. She sees the yellow evil inside their eyes, and the fear she once held away is let in. Then she hears a voice. A man calling her name. Screaming her name with emotion, and so much pain. It brought forth memories she didn't want to revisit, but thinking of them somehow soothed the pain, made it bearable.

She stares at the roof and sees herself, standing before the gates. It's dark and quiet in Mystic Falls. Bonnie could hear Elena's ungrateful whines from afar, she shook her head. Standing with Elena were Caroline, Tyler, Stefan, and Alaric.

"BONNIE!" Yells Jeremy. She'd just got off the phone with him, ending things. She had a hold over him before when she was dead. Bonnie thought that was so selfish, but she will not do that again.

Jeremy came sprinting through the woods, belting out Bonnie's name. When he saw her, he stopped. Bonnie fought back all tears. She saved who she could. And it's not like she would exactly be alone in her last moments alive. Damon would be there…

Bonnie awoke in a cylindrical white room on a gurney. It was Damon. Damon was the one calling her. He must know...

_I have to get out here, _Bonnie thinks. She sits up and notices her surroundings. She looked at her body to see the bite marks and scratches gone. She even felt over her neck. Hopping off the gurney, she walks around the small room. It could barely fit the gurney inside of it. She starts feeling up against the walls to find some sort of way out here. She feels around, until she hears voices. She knocks on this part of the wall. It's hollow. She takes a few steps back and puts her chin down, an unshakable look on her face. The wall slides up and a man walks in wearing a white, dirty apron with a black shirt underneath. His mouth drops when he sees her.

"Bonnie?" The man says. Bonnie stares at him.

"How do you—" Bonnie then recognizes the person's face. A slight grin crosses her mouth. She couldn't believe it. "Luca?"

"AHHHHH!" Damon screamed as the water washed upon the shore, over his hands. He didn't move them. He just huffed and puffed in anger. At this point, Damon already figured he is dead. He only wanted to find a way to stay alive, but Bonnie is gone. Somewhere in the ocean.

"What is wrong with you, Newvie?" The muscular vamp stands behind Damon.

"Leave me alone," Damon says, the water reaching his hands again. "GAHHHH!"

"Why not just put your whole body in it?!" The muscular vamp pushes Damon's body into the water. Damon sprints to the edge of the forest, waiting for himself to heal and wanting to pounce on the vamp.

"What is wrong with you?" The muscular vamp asks him. Damon ignores him. He can't get Bonnie off his mind. It's unsettling not knowing if she's okay. He just wants to die instead living with this— not knowing. He doesn't want to hopefully find a plan back home. If he goes back without Bonnie… without even finding out if she's…

"I asked you a question, Newvie!" The muscular vamp darts in front of Damon. "What is wrong with you?"

"Leave me alone. You took the last of… my food…" Damon says. Then in a fit of rage and assumption, Damon punches the vamp in the face knocking him back a few steps. "WHERE IS SHE?! WHERE IS MY FRIEND?!"

He knees the vamp in the face, knocking him on his back, but the vamp gets to his feet quickly. He grabs Damon's neck, lifting him up.

"Do you really want to go through this again?" The muscular vamp tells him. "I'm stronger than you, and possibly, older."

Damon could feel his adrenaline heightening. He knows this vamp has something to do with Bonnie. And he probably won't find out.

Damon laughs hysterically. "Yeah. Well, I'm angrier." Damon puts both his feet on the vamp's chest and pushes off. He falls on his back while the vamp is tossed onto the shoreline, just as the water is coming up. He screams and tries to run, but Damon rushes to him and holds his body in the water.

"Just ask a girl named Caroline. She'll tell you how that works!" Damon tells the vamp, who is screaming and shaking uncontrollably. He drags the vamp further into the ocean, and though he felt the pain too, his adrenaline is too high to stunt him.

He watches as the vamp pleads and begs for his life, boiling under the water. Damon picks up his boiled and bloody body and tosses it further into the ocean. Then he turns around and walks fearlessly back onto the beach, his legs creating smoke behind him. When he gets on the beach he sees the muscular vamp's friend standing at the edge of the forest. The lanky vamp charges at Damon but Damon knocks him back with one stiff arm. He shakes his head at the vamp. The vamp becomes scared and sprints into the forest.

Little did the lanky vamp know; Damon loves the chase. And in his worst self yet: a starved, pale, and impatient vampire.

Damon looks up at the sun and growls. He sprints into the forest chasing after the lanky vamp. Catching up to him, he tackles him and bites into his neck. He thinks about Elena. It just makes him angrier. He digs his fangs deeper into the vamp's neck. He thinks about Bonnie. And he stops. He looks at the vamp and he's out, not dead, just passed out.

Killing this vamp won't help him find out what happened to Bonnie. But using an interrogation method only police departments dreamt they could engage in, that may help. And oddly, Damon is feeling a little better.


	4. Lost and Found pt 1

Damon heaved over the vamp, blood and saliva dripping from his mouth. He stares vacantly into the forest. He could feel a change in him, he just wasn't sure what it is exactly. Maybe it's a part of his mental state and it is crumbling and he can't control it. His hunger is worsening, although the lanky vamp's blood can help him sustain it awhile.

The last drop of its blood slides right off Damon's tongue, onto his moist lips and dripping off into his belly button as he sits back. His breathing slows and he feels like he's in control again. The bitter and salty taste of the lanky vamp's blood is left on his tongue. He regrets biting the vamp, but he was caught in a fury. In a twist of rage. The sun boils his skin like water on a stove. So badly, he checked to see if his ring is on him and intact. It is.

The vamp blood could keep him going for a few hours, maybe less or more. But even Damon knows that if he doesn't find some human blood soon, he'll starve to a slow and patiently. A kind of starvation even the sun would give a round of applause.

Damon lays back, lying uncomfortably close to the lanky vamp. He didn't care though; it's the last thing running through his mind. He's thinking of Mystic Falls. The scenery. The people and places. He doesn't dare delve into the heavy things about home. The things that'll make him question his existence again, or arouse certain feelings he doesn't want to deal with. He just thinks of a picturesque and simplistic Mystic Falls.

"What am I going to do?" He says to himself. The lanky vamp's body twitches and Damon looks at him. Suddenly, the lanky vamp's eyes open and he rushes to a tree, trying to get as far as possible from Damon.

"You're one of THEM!" He cries, pointing at Damon with his back against the tree.

"What?" Damon asks, sitting up. "What are you talking about?"

"But you're different!" His skinny finger shakes. "You're a hybrid?"

"No!" Damon stands to his feet in a quick motion, making the lanky vamp jump back. "You need to chill."

The lanky vamp raises his eyebrows. "Chill?! You tried to eat me."

"Correction. I _did_." Damon walks towards him and the vamp shakes his head, grasping onto the tree.

"Stay away from me," the vamp says through his nerves. "I'm already dying, and I'd rather go out in peace."

His last sentence piques Damon's interest. "You're already dying? What do you mean?"

"Just what I said… Every single vampire in this forest is going to die."

Damon walks closer to him. "There's more?"

"Yes— stay back!" The vamp puts his hand out in front of him, in an effort to keep Damon away. Damon sprints to him and grabs his hand, using his vampire speed to whip behind the tree and stretch the vamp's arm around. He grabs his other arm and whips it around the other side. Damon pulls and tugs on each arm, the lanky vamp screeching in pain. The bones in his arms jerk and crack in an attempt to burst through his skin.

"GAHHH!" The vamp screams again, looking up towards the sun.

"Shut up!" Damon yells to him. Putting the hands together, Damon picks up a branch and stabs it through both hands, leaving the vamp stuck to the tree with his arms. In endless and unremorseful pain.

"Why are you doing this to me?" The lanky vamp cries. Damon circles around the tree and stands in front of him.

"Because, you know things I don't know," Damon teases him. He gets closer to the vamp's face, their noses almost touching. "And I'm going to find out."

"But I don't know—"

"Shut up! Didn't I tell you to shut up?" Damon grabs his jaw forcefully. "How're you walking the sun, hm?"

The vamp doesn't answer him. Damon walks behind the tree to examine the vamp's hands. He crouches to look at them. He chuckles. There is a ring.

"A ring, huh?" Damon says. He circles back around to the vamp. "Now I'm going to ask you a series of questions and if you do not answer these questions I am going to RIP that ring finger off. Got it?"

"But, what if I don't know the answer?" The lanky vamp says, sweat rolling down his cheek.

"Then that's just too bad." Damon shrugs. "First things first. Where's Bonnie Bennett?" The lanky vamp shakes his head. "Fine. We'll come back to that. Next, what's your name?"

"It's Ross."

Damon nods, starting to pace in front of Ross. "Before, you said I was one of them. What were you talking about?"

"They're vampires, except rabid and primitive in nature."

"And where are they?"

"Here. In this forest," Ross's voice is adamant and on edge. Damon sensed a fear lingering around Ross. He stops pacing and feels the urge to try to calm him.

"Look, Ross, don't take this personally. I'm just desperate. I'm hungry and I'm lost. And I need her. I need someone," Damon says to him, his eyes downcast.

"Let me— Let me help you. Who is it?" Ross asks. He genuinely wanted to help. Damon is stronger and meaner than him at the moment, Ross would be a fool to try and face him again. Now that his companion is frying to death in the middle of the ocean, it'd be smart to find someone else to cling to. To look to as an ally. "Is it the Bonnie girl?"

Damon's eyes shot up. "Do you know where she is?"

"No! But I can help you locate her. Track her. I…" Ross loses his train of thought.

"She's about ye high, caramely-sandish skin, very judgmental, and these eyes… You can't miss them."

"I'm sorry, I haven't seen her… But can I ask you a question?"

"What?"

"You're not from around here, are you?"

"No."

"See. We can work together. I can help you get your friend back. I can tell you everything there is to know about this place. I'm like an encyclopedia— I've been here long enough. Just please, let me go. I… I communicate better when I'm not under duress."

Damon stopped listening after Ross said he could help him find Bonnie. After that, he just rolled his eyes and wished Ross would shut up. His voice was piercing Damon's ears. It's whiny and high-pitched.

Damon walks around the tree and grabs ahold of Ross' hands. "If you flake out on me Ross…" Damon says as he twists the branch inside Ross' hands. "I will take your ring finger and shove it in your left eye."

Damon pulls the branch out of Ross' hands and Ross collapses to his knees, clutching his hands together. Damon walks back around to Ross.

"They aren't healing." Damon says, actually concerned. But not for Ross' wellbeing, but his own. He understands he's deteriorating, but even then he should heal.

"Tell me something I don't know," Ross replies, gazing at the ground.

Damon shifts his head to the side, keeping his eyes on Ross. He's confused by that statement.

"What do you mean, 'tell me something I don't know'?" Damon mocks him.

Ross looks up at Damon. "It means I'm going to die. There's nothing left here… at least not for our kind."

Damon kneels next to him. "Well, I don't belong here. So I don't care, and you said you'd help me."

"I will!"

Damon grabs his arm to pull him up. "Well! Let's start. Follow me."

Damon stands before the shore, wishing he could dive into the water. Every bone in his body is vibrating, he is itching; the urge to search the entire ocean for the one girl who has saved and can save him again, is unrelenting. His journey home is being hindered because his hope is declining. Returning without Bonnie would be a tragedy. Elena could break all over again, and worst of all Damon would blame himself. But he is torn. He can feel himself diminishing into starvation mode and turning into an unstable creature of the night. He doesn't want that to happen. He doesn't need that to happen. His impulses are a side effect of the natural friction occurring in his mind. It took him a while to realize this, and even longer to understand it. It's this reason that he's drawn to conflict because he is of a conflicting nature himself.

As he casts a dark shadow over the cusp of the shore line, he mouths word: _I'm sorry_, while scanning the area of the ocean. He feels compelled to apologize. What for? He doesn't know, he just feels he has to.

"Don't get too close, remember!" Ross warns him, creating a small bonfire by assembling rocks around a pit. "The ocean is immersed in vervain."

"Yeah… Why is that?"

"Because. It's a part of the new order."

Damon turns around to Ross. "The new order? Okay, what the hell is this place?"

"Well, here? It's the land of the Forgotten. Which is just… an accumulation of rabid, immoral vampires running amok. After all of the humans here were drained, there was nothing left but us."

"You mean to tell me there are a vampires with switched off humanity attacking any moving thing?" asks Damon as his eyes grow attentive.

"Basically. But, they were stripped of their humanity. There's no way they can get it back."

"What about you? You're here, you're a vampire, why aren't you going psychotic?"

"I had a companion… the one you… killed. It helps when you have someone, they can keep you sane and… somewhat human. Plus, we were lucky enough to escape the torture and keep our humanity."

Damon sighs and closes his eyes tight. The anxiety begins to chill his bones and put him in a place that he's not too unfamiliar with: Caring about Bonnie.

He turns and points towards the ocean. "I caught her scent. Bonnie's. She's somewhere out there."

Ross' mouth drops. He stands up in a slow motion, trying to think of the right way to tell Damon where Bonnie could be. Damon turns back around and sees him.

"You know something?" Damon asks, begging him. Ross' fear closed him off. He wanted to tell Damon, but he's scared of the reaction he'll get.

"You don't want to know."

"YES I DO!"

"But… you love her."

"I—" Damon is caught off guard by the assumption. The complicated and intricate word love brought forth memories in Damon's mind he wouldn't dare forget.

_It's never going to get any better than this… I peaked, _he remembers telling Elena. His mouth agape. A soft, but swollen look on his face, he looks Ross straight in the eyes. And not with dangerous intent or malevolence, but a more approachable and endearing look. Ross; A lanky, pathetic guy but as wise as they come.

"I… it's just that I'm always saving her, and she's usually saving me… no matter how many foolish things I've done."

Ross shrugs. "It's the same look Kev used to show me…" Ross shakes his head as he realizes the conversation diverting back to the original situation at hand. "I just don't want you to lose hope."

"If you know this, Ross. You need to tell me!" Damon grabs hold of his shoulders and shakes him. "TELL ME!"

"There's a nest of… of vampire-like monsters underwater. She could have been taken."

Damon paces away, holding his head in displeasure. His jaw tightens as he tries to dispel the anger from his body. He has to approach this situation with more intelligence and less spontaneity.

"How do we get down there?" Damon asks. "And THINK before you say there is not a way!"

"Uh…" Ross itches his head and averts his eyes.

Damon shoves pass him. "We need to get firewood, cut down some trees, something." He marches off into the forest. Ross follows Damon diligently, putting his hands behind him.

"What do you plan to do?" Ross asks as they walked through the forest.

"I'm gathering firewood, just in case Bonnie comes back."

"I know where some is… where Laz and I slept last." Ross runs ahead of Damon, waving for him to follow. Damon runs behind him.

They trek up a hill in the forest entering a vast, open field with turquoise colored grass. The grass looked a bit frosted on the tips. Damon looks around and everything seemed familiar to him.

"What's this place?" Damon asks.

"It's a supposedly forbidden place here among the Forgotten," Ross explains. "Strange things happen," He says jokingly.

Damon clutches his chest, feeling a jolt. Ross stands behind him, consumed by surprise and belief. Damon's ribs push through his chest, creating a pain he had never felt before. His neck twists abruptly, meeting Ross' face. Ross screams and Damon starts to see something weird.

Him and Bonnie. She's lying in the middle of the grass, naked and soaked in some liquid. He lays his jacket on her as she awakes. He sees her face: submerged in innocence and played with by Satan. They have an exchange, and Damon can feel himself converge into the visual…

"Here, let me help you," Damon pulls Bonnie up off the ground. She looks around, snuggled in Damon's jacket. Walking forward, her curiosity pulls her away. "Bonnie…"

Damon catches up with her. "Where are you going?"

She holds up her hand in front him and he rolls his eyes. Her gaze is fixated on some point.

"I feel like I've been here before," Bonnie says under her breath. She looks up. The sky is grey and cloudy. The air still and peaceful. There is a spark between Bonnie and the environment she is in— something new, something different. And it's not just the fact that it's a different place, but she can feel an aura about it that's so strangely intoxicating. From the beautiful visuals to the contrite, grainy trees. She's enveloped in the colorfulness, the weirdness of this space.

"Then it'd be nice to turn on your Bonnie senses and tell me where we are," Damon tells her, observing the environment also. He turns around and sees even more land, surrounded by pillars of trees but still seemingly limitless in its content. The grass reflects a blueish-green hue onto Bonnie's glossy toes as Damon looks on. He smirks at the sight.

"I can't… make out what I'm feeling. It's different. It's…" Bonnie stands in front of Damon, placing her hands on his cheeks. He shivers, startled.

"Woah," He says, trying to catch his breath. "You're cold."

"You feel that?" Bonnie nods at him.

"Of course I feel it," says Damon as he moves Bonnie's hands. "Bonnie, what are we doing?"

She shakes her head. "This area… it's different. But I can't figure out what it is." She looks up at Damon and he sees the eagerness in her eyes.

Bonnie looks away, thinking Damon is lost in his own world. He doesn't remember the tragic journey to this place, so how could he understand what she is feeling?

In an instant, Damon is converted back into the real world. He's staring at the grass, it's light blue tips intriguing.

"You're neck! It… It twisted," Ross screams from behind him. The pain lingered from his neck to his chest. He picks himself up and rubs it.

"This place… it's where I came from," Damon says to Ross. "This is where Bonnie and I were brought after we died."

"Died? You never told me that."

"The opportunity never came, but I remember. Between arriving here and finding the beach, I must have blacked out or something."

"Maybe this place had an effect on you…"

"I don't know, let's just keep moving."

As the sun set and night began to move in, Damon sat before a fire with his arms rested upon his knees and took it all in. Ross fell asleep a few feet away from Damon, but Damon couldn't sleep. His hunger seems to have weakened which only weakened his physical capabilities even further. And after regaining a patch of his memory and suffering through the torment of it, he feels even less inclined to go on.

A restlessness quaked through him. He poked at the fire with a branch, trying to keep it going, and broke the branch in the process. A mix of restlessness and frustration put a rise on his anxiety. And he is adamant on making sure this fire lasts through the night, even if that means he gets no rest. Bonnie Bennett could waltz through that water right now, not a cut or scratch on her, and be perfectly fine. That's the kind of thing he is hoping will happen. And as soon as he gets her back, they will formulate a plan to return to Mystic Falls.

Something snapped behind him in the forest. He quickly stood up and faced the forest, searching for any sudden movements. A girl appeared, naked. The same girl who resembled Bonnie.

"I thought you were dead?" Damon questions her.

"You vampires are so foolish…" The girl says, walking closer to Damon. "So self-righteous."

Damon sees the large wound where Ross and his friend sucked her blood. She twirls her neck and the wound heals fast.

"What the hell are you?"

"I'm a witch," She holds out her hand, boiling Damon's brains from the inside. Blood leaks from his ears as he holds his head, falling slowly to the ground. "And, see, witches are immortal."

Ross' eyes open slowly. He looks over and sees the girl he'd killed, killing Damon. He froze in shock.

The girl glanced at Ross and paid him no mind. She's interested in Damon.

"Wow… you're a different kind of vampire." She kneels next to him, putting her hand on his cheek. She begins to draw circles with her finger. Damon pushes her hand away and snaps her neck. His head still boiling from her magic.

He lets out a loud sigh of relief when the pain goes away. Ross stands up and runs over to Damon.

"Are you alright?" He asks.

"Yeah, I just hope she's telling the truth," Damon says, glaring at her body with captivating eyes.

"About what?"

"About her immortality."

"You want her to come alive? So, she can try to kill us again? You don't get it. Witches do this for fun."

"But she's…" He's still glaring at her, vaguely comparing her eyes to Bonnie's. "She could be my ticket to finding Bonnie."

"I'm not staying here for that— I won't." Damon doesn't let it phase him that Ross is not in on his plan, but he could care less. The universe has been moving mountains to keep Damon consumed in stress, but this is the first time he feels the universe could be on his side. He knows this girl is the key to finding Bonnie.

Ross stands up. "I'm leaving. It was nice knowing you… and your abs," He says. Damon averts his eyes in Ross' direction. "Okay, then."

Ross, as scared as can be, set out to be on his own. He'd rather be that than be in the vicinity of a sociopathic witch. But Damon risked it. For her.

He studied the girl in her lifeless body, sitting next to her. His apprehensive eyes taking their time as he appreciates her big, round orbs to her petite nose. He notices a tattoo on the right side of her neck. It's written "KB". He reaches for her, his hand hovering over her face. He's inclined to feel her. His land lays rest on her cheeks and a cold shiver is sent through his hand. He pulls her body onto his, propping her head up onto his chest. The blood still moving swiftly through her bones; he can smell it. A smell identical to Bonnie's. He knows he has to keep his composure. This girl is his one chance of finding Bonnie. He can't bite her. He only waits. He waits for her to wake.

Dawn moves into the land of the Forgotten as Damon watches the water come up the shore. It's kept him occupied all night, and his mind off the hunger that's swallowing him inch by inch. The girl's heart begins to beat. Damon looks down and her eyes open. She sees Damon's bony and angular face matched with the paleness of a grey sky. Her reaction was to bounce back, her bottom teeth stick out of her mouth in anger.

"You killed me," The girl says through her teeth.

"I just wanted to see if you were bluffing," Damon says raising his eyebrow. She sees her clothes scattered on the beach.

"I was looking for these!" She stands up to grab them. Damon watches her as if she is a type of meat he wanted to devour. His vision becoming hazy again.

"I need your help…" He says, barely audible. She hears him though, because a smirk crawls upon her mouth.

"My help?" She laughs, putting her clothes back on.

Damon flashes in front of her, two inches away from her face. "My friend…"

"The vampire?"

"No, the witch!" Damon says with delight.

"Who is she?" asks the girl, suddenly interested.

"Her names Bonnie. And she's witch a too. She's in the ocean somewhere!"

"Really! And you want to save her…"

"I have to."

The girl circles Damon, noticing he's falling apart. It's only a matter of time before he explodes. He sees her tattoo again.

"What's 'KB' stand for?" He asks her.

She touches her tattoo lightly. "It's my name. Kaya," She knocks Damon back into the air with her power. "The B stands for back ya ass up!" He falls onto the shore line and begins to fry.

"AHHHH!" He tries to run but she keeps him there, walking towards him with her hand held out.

"I'll help you," She says. The burning sensation leaves Damon's body. He doesn't feel anything anymore. He looks at his hands and body, confused.

"What happen?"

"I told you, I can help you. But there's always a price… for me using this kind of magic. And I like you…?" She waits for him to say his name.

"Damon."

"Damon…" says Kaya, seductively. She chuckles. "I definitely like you now."

Damon stands to his feet. "So, you'll help me?"

"As long as I get to have your humanity. It's fading, anyway, you might as well just give it to me." Damon thinks about this for a minute.

"No. I won't let you do that."

"Fine. I'll just take it myself." Before she could place a spell on Damon, he launches at her and grabs her arm to twist it.

"OR I'LL JUST RIP YOUR LIMBS OFF MYSELF AND TOSS THEM IN THE OCEAN! TIE A LARGE BRICK AROUND YOUR TORSO AND DUMP YOU IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SEA! THEN YOU CAN DROWN OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN!" Damon pushes her away and she falls to the ground, moaning.

"Oh my god…" She licks her lips while her arm twists back into place. "That was so sexy. I want your humanity… or no deal."

Damon closes his eyes tight in frustration. "You know, you remind me of someone." He walks up to her and they shake hands.

"It's a deal. Your humanity is mine… may I ask— You're from somewhere else, aren't you?" She stares at him with admiring eyes, wondering how she got to meet such a beautiful and majestic creature. "Another kind, huh?" Damon nods.

Damon lowers himself into the water. With Kaya's protection spell, the vervain is only a tickle on his body. He opens his eyes. The water is dense and opaque, but he moves forward anyway. Kaya is a tricky, manipulative girl— how long will she keep the spell going before she lets Damon boil? He doesn't stop moving to find out. He swims forward, using the ocean bottom as force. Damon drops abruptly, further into the abyss as the ocean bottom disappears. His feet found ground, and he continues moving forward until a body hits him, head first. He's his knocked back, almost unconscious. Dizzy, he stumbles, losing his footing. He feels another coming at him and dodges it, just in the knick of time.

He sees a glowing blue circle out in front of him. When he reaches it, he puts his hand through and it's some sort of portal. He walks in it, not wasting any time and falls into a grey rotunda. A girl hisses at him and attacks him. Damon snaps her neck, looking back up from where he fell. The portal is there, glowing and blue in radiance.

He steps over the girls' dead body and walks into a hallway. Torches are lit on the walls and the ground is covered in dirt. He sprints down the hall arriving in another rotunda. He stands on a balcony, hanging over what looks like a cafeteria. It's empty.

He walks down the dilapidated staircase and into the cafeteria. It's not empty after all. He sees two children in ragged clothing, sleeping under a wooden picnic table. His fangs elongate and eyes turn dark red as the children's heartbeats fill his mind with temptation. He shakes his head, trying to fight off the feeling and sprints to the other side of the room. That's when he sees a door on the side where he just was. He sprints to that door, opening and closing it quickly.

Leaning on the wall, trying to endure the pain and hunger, he looks over to see a corridor. He stumbles down the corridor, kicking up dirt in his path, and busts down every door; scaring families, who looked trenched in poverty. He ran into old men, begging him for something to eat.

"How about you give me something?" Damon says to a poor, old man. Then he throws him into a wall, trying to hold onto his humanity a little while longer. As he trudges along, he trips and falls down a long, dark staircase into an area with white tiled flooring.

Incapable of standing up, he rolls over and sees a light shining down on him. A lady in a black pea coat leans over him, a beret over her head. Damon's hunger kicks in and he can't contain it any longer. His fangs elongate and she screams, trying to run. But Damon grabs ahold of her ankle, tripping her. He slowly reels her in while she kicks him the face and yells for help, but it doesn't stop him. His vision is hazy and red, but all he sees is food. He uses his other hand to reach for her calf, and his other to grab her knee. And he when he gets ahold of her thigh, he quickly climbs onto her body flipping her over in the process. He stares into her eyes and compels her not scream.

Damon runs down the white halls in search of Bonnie, wiping the blood off his mouth. There are alarms going off and an emergency evacuation is in effect. Someone must have found that lady's body. And now, they're looking for Damon. The hall he's is a circle; he runs back to the area where he'd killed that lady. A blonde boy is standing over her body, he sees Damon and is infuriated. His sharp teeth bulge out of his mouth and he charges at Damon. They wrestle each other until Damon realizes how overpowered he is over him and throws him at a wall. The blonde one rolls on his back, coughing in pain.

"Wait! Stop!" Damon looks up and sees a chunky girl. Jenica. "Don't hurt him just… tell me what you want!"

"Bonnie. Bennett."

Damon looks through the small opening in the door and he sees Bonnie smiling. Joy emanates off Bonnie and into Damon. He becomes elated to see she's okay… then he breaks the door down. It flies in whipping at Luca, who ducks.

Bonnie sees Damon and runs to him. She hugs him, her face pressed against his crisp and cold chest. Damon sees Luca standing. He glares at him and Luca presents an amicable smile. Bonnie pulls away and hears the sirens and alarms going off.

"This room is sound proof?" Bonnie says, mad. She turns around and looks at Luca, biting her jaw. "Did you know about this?"

"It—It doesn't matter. He's here," Luca says.

"How is he—" Damon says.

Bonnie cuts him off. "I'll explain later, let's just get the hell out of here."

"Right after you."

Bonnie turns around to Luca. She nods for him to follow. "I'm not leaving you down here."

"And I'm not saving him too." Damon demands.

"He doesn't deserve this, Damon. None of these people do." She waves for Luca to follow as she walks out of the room. Damon looks at the ground remembering the first section he entered when he got here. Seeing those children and those families… She was right.

"DAMON!" Bonnie screams. He runs out to find a tall, olive-toned man clutching Bonnie's neck. It's Allind. Damon sprints to him, but stops when he hears the blonde one's voice calling from behind.

"I wouldn't do that," The blonde one says, holding Luca. "Or he gets it."

"Is this a joke?" Damon asks, chuckling. He sprints to Allind and pushes his thumbs into his eyeballs. Bonnie watches him with a disturbed look as Allind passes out. The blonde one tries to snatch Bonnie, grabbing her from behind but she counters him, tossing him over her back. Damon sees this and is impressed. He claps, sarcastically.

"Let's just go," She says, but as she walks away, the blonde one grabs her ankle and Damon smashes his face into the ground with his foot. Blood splatters on their legs.

"Was all that really necessary?" Bonnie asks.

"You need to learn how to necessarily deal with a threat. And that's how you do it."

Bonnie walks away from Damon, catching up to Luca. Damon sighs, following them from behind.

They advance to the cafeteria where the Royalty stood, revenge in their eyes. Damon stands in front of Bonnie, pointing towards the staircase.

"Go," He tells her. "GO!"

She and Luca run up the staircase. She stops. "I'm not leaving you, Damon," He says.

"I'll… I'll meet you up there," He tells her so she'd go. He just needed her to be safe. And happy. But Damon knows Bonnie as well as he knows himself. She will not be happy until the people she cares about is safe. Damon considered the idea of Bonnie caring about him. He glances at her again to see her glance back also, her mouth almost frowning as Luca pulls her away.

He shakes his head at the hundred or so of people dressed in formal wear standing before him. Their blood isn't the most satisfying, but it's tasty with the right suck.

"I am going to eat ALL OF YOU," Damon says in a deep, commanding voice.


	5. Lost and Found pt 2

Bonnie awoke in a cylindrical white room on a gurney. _I have to get out here, _Bonnie thinks. She sits up and notices her surroundings. She looked at her body to see the bite marks and scratches gone. She even felt over her neck. Hopping off the gurney, she walks around the small room. It could barely fit the gurney inside of it. She starts feeling up against the walls to find some sort of way out of here. She feels around, until she hears voices. She knocks on this part of the wall. It's hollow. She takes a few steps back and puts her chin down, an unshakable look on her face. The wall slides up and a man walks in wearing a white, dirty apron with a black shirt underneath. His mouth drops when he sees her.

"Hey… I know you…" The man says, his eyes narrowing. Bonnie stares at him. "Bonnie?"

"How do you—", Bonnie then recognizes the person's face. A slight grin crosses her mouth. She couldn't believe it. "Luca?"

Luca nods his head and tries to contain his excitement. "Yeah!"

Bonnie sighs in relief. "You can help me get out of here, right?"

Luca drops his head, a sorrowful crossing over him. "I can't." She doesn't say anything. There's nothing really to say. She saw his enthusiasm when he seen her, which made her excited too; made her think he could help her find a way out. But maybe he's being held prisoner just like her. And if that is the case, there's no need for her to be bothered by him. At least not now.

After being eaten, mauled on, and torn apart by a group of monstrous degenerates, then to awake miraculously healed… It's all so inexplicable. If she can recall, she heard her name being called. It was Damon… Everything else between that and now is gone.

Bonnie walks over to the gurney and sits on it, an earnest thought burning through her mind. She cuts her eyes at Luca. "Did I die?"

Luca swallows, planning to tell her everything. "You weren't breathing after they finished with you."

Bonnie takes a deep breath trying to understand all of it. She lifts up her hand, index finger pointing flimsy like, and her mouth opens to say something.

"I think I know what happened…" Luca says.

"Get. Out." Bonnie tells him, pointing at him on each syllable. Luca watches her hand drift lightly onto the gurney. He can tell she's hurting and listens to her request. He taps the wall behind him in some code-like formation, and it slides up. He walks out to grab food tray, and walks back in.

"Here. You gotta eat," Luca says as he sits the tray on the edge of the gurney. Bonnie could eat— she hasn't since the Other Side collapsed. She's just as hungry as Damon.

"Okay, can you go now?" Bonnie asks.

"Please? Eat. It's been awhile since I've had to cook for anyone down here. They don't exactly eat like us… My mash potatoes are bangin', by the way." Luca attempts to cheer her up, but she is still wrapped up in her thoughts. "I add a pinch of garlic to it. It puts this amazing, twisted taste to a simple meal. You'd like it. You should try it."

"Bangin'?" Bonnie mocks him, turning her head to him. "Really?"

Luca laughs and covers his mouth, nervously. "Yeah. But that's what I mean though. It's really bangin'."

He chuckles again, making Bonnie smirk a bit. "Thanks Luca. I don't know why they're having you feed me, and right now, I don't want to know."

"Okay."

"I just want to be alone, while I still can, because they're going to come back for me…" Her bottom lip trembles as fear takes control of her. "Aren't they?"

Luca nods. He wanted to lie so that the horror would dissipate from her face.

He exits the room, leaving Bonnie alone. Just as she wanted.

The smell of the food enters her nostrils. She picks up the food tray and starts eating. There's green beans, meat loaf, and Luca's infamous mash potatoes. She chuckles playing with the mash potatoes with her fork. _Bangin'_, she thinks. She lets out a loud chuckle, finally feeling something good in what felt like months. She's only felt comfortable to laugh at least three times being here. The most memorable is her exchange with Damon. Bonnie remembers:

"Sure there are a million people that we'd rather be with right now… but," She says.

"A couple thousand at most," Damon tells her. When he said that he ignited a closer bond, a comfortableness among them, and he also made her laugh and smile. Feeling a little safe and accepting of the situation at hand.

She stops playing with her food as she thinks of what Damon is going through. She knows he can take care of himself and he thinks the same of her. But, we all need a little saving sometimes. But as she thinks of Damon, there is a divide within her mind that's forcing her to make definitive choices. Especially if she wants to get out of here and make it home to Mystic Falls. She has come to be conclusive and determined. The mind cannot be boggled, puzzled, and perplexed. Not her mind. Not now. She needs to get her thoughts in line to be proactive. This is no time for crying, or feeling sad for herself. Those are things to be dealt with at a later time.

Her life is in danger here among these fiends. Damon's life is in danger too out there all alone. And if Bonnie knows any better, he's handling his business, searching for her and searching for a way back home. Bonnie needs to do the same if she plans to see Damon again, and she does. Because he's the one person that binds all of this grief and turmoil together, but not that he's bad guy. He's the one she's shared this experience with so far. They have to learn to take care of themselves, and each other in the process. Losing that will only hurt them.

Bonnie finishes her food and sits the tray on the floor. She lies back on the gurney, planning to fall asleep. She closes her eyes but is interrupted by yet another unwanted guest. Jenica walks in with folded clothing in her hands.

"I suppose this is a bad time," Jenica says.

Bonnie sits up. "Are those for me?" Bonnie is wearing only a gown. The clothes Jenica hands to her are similar to prison clothes, except they're grey in color. "So, I'm a prisoner, now?"

"I can't say…" Jenica says, inhaling. "I'm just really sorry about what my family is doing to you. May I ask you something?"

"No." Bonnie grabs her clothes.

"Well, they'd like you to change and meet everyone. If that's okay?"

Bonnie can feel the temperature rising in her body; the fury taking over. "If that's OKAY?! No." She takes a breather to calm herself down. "No, it's not okay. But I don't have a choice, do I?"

"If it was up to me, I'd just let you go."

"It can still be up to you, you know? Your dad sees you as meat on a grill anyway. I don't know why you follow through on his orders."

"Well, he's my father."

"He's a murderer…" Bonnie says, trying to make her understand. Jenica steps back, surprised by Bonnie's remark. Even though it's not the first time she's heard it.

"I'm just gonna let you change. Knock when you're ready."

But Bonnie is never going to be ready. She mugged the girl as she left.

Bonnie walks out of the room with her hair a bit messy. She meets Jenica and two guards. The guards wore all white and black, and are holding guns. They walk down a long white hall, the guards standing behind Jenica and Bonnie.

Bonnie looks for an escape plan, but sees nothing, while Jenica talks her head off to forget about the awkwardness she's creating for herself.

"I'm supposed to be giving you the grand tour, but… I really don't know this place that well. I suppose my father assigned this to me so he wouldn't have the urge to kill me."

Bonnie glares at her. "But," Jenica continues, "I think… I suppose maybe you'd want to end it here."

"What I want…" Bonnie peeks over at the guards, then takes a step closer to Jenica. "What I want is to get out here," She whispers. "I know you can help me…" Bonnie nods, trying to persuade the girl.

Jenica closes her eyes tight and her chubby cheeks sink in. "I don't know if I can."

"Yes. Yes, you can. Jenica, look. I know how hard it can be to defy your given family, no matter how horrible they are to you. But if you help me, I will help you…"

Jenica sees the guards looking suspiciously at them. She nods and they start walking.

Bonnie's immovable words begin to have an effect on Jenica's mind.

"I suppose I do know some hidden passageways and could conjure up some sort of plan… but only as long as my sister and I can come along with you. This place isn't meant for us."

"It's horrible," Bonnie says with contempt. Jenica agrees; her head shifting down. Bonnie touches Jenica's shoulder, trying to show her comfort. She peers over her shoulder at the guards, trickery and treachery in her eyes. "Let's do this."

"…Right now?"

"Yes, you said you knew secret passageways."

"I do..." Jenica looks around the hall, taking a minute to think. "Oh, the bathroom!"

Bonnie turns around swiftly, her hair falling eloquently across her face. She smiles at the guards; trying to get their attention.

"I need to use the bathroom. Please?" Bonnie smiles, biting her lip. The guards look at Jenica for approval.

"Well? You guys just going to stand there and twiddle your thumbs? Take the young lady to the bathroom!" Jenica says.

"Okay, your Majesty, right this way," The guard says, holding his arm out to lead the way.

"Majesty? My name is Bonnie," She tells the guards, "And I am nobody's Majesty." Bonnie folds her arms and starts walking. The guards look at each other, then at Jenica, flustered.

Bonnie walks into the bathroom, in which there were no mirrors. The light flickered above the stonewalled sink. Jenica follows behind her, turning the water faucet on.

"Majesty?! You need to explain to me what is happening right now." Bonnie demands.

"My family wants you to stay."

"I'm not staying here. You know that. I can't."

"Trust me. I am against it one hundred percent."

"Why do they want me to stay? So, they can feed off me constantly?"

"Pretty much."

Bonnie leans on the sink, her mind filling with several thoughts on the verge of imploding.

"I have to get out of here," says Bonnie. She searches the bathroom for the secret passageway. Jenica sees her and runs to a corner of the room. She crouches down in front of a tile and pushes on it. It tips up and Bonnie kneels down next to her.

"Is this it?" Bonnie says, adrenaline moving into her bones.

"Yeah," Jenica pushes on the tile again and picks it off the floor, tossing it to the other side of the room. She picks up another tile and another and another until she's uncovered a small, wooden square door with a handle. "This it?" Jenica nods, a little wary of the plan.

"Your names Bonnie?" She asks.

"Yeah."

"I'm Jenica," She holds out her hand. "Nice to meet you."

Bonnie shakes it. "Um… What's going on?"

"I'm just doing this just in case… something happens." Bonnie narrows her eyes at Jenica. "It's dangerous where you're about to go… and I don't know—"

"Hurry up in there!" The guard bangs on the door, making Jenica jump.

"Aren't you coming with me?"

"I don't know anymore. I suppose, with the guards and… me having to get my sister. There wouldn't be enough time. But you don't belong here."

A comforting smile grows on Bonnie's face. She gains a lot of respect for this girl out of their few interactions. First, seeing the light this girl has. A girl who stands up for what is right and wears her heart on her sleeve whether the air is calm or gloomy. Second, the singular fact she's willing to disobey her family to help someone she barely knows. It's kind of empowering to Bonnie. They both care about others, even the ones who don't deserve it.

Bonnie places a hand on Jenica's, showing her that she's being true and honest.

"Jenica, thank you for everything. I understand how dangerous this is and I understand that you want me to be free. But I'm going to come back for you. I promised you this. I'll get Damon and we will not stop until you and your sister are free. Okay?"

"Yeah!" Jenica joyfully says.

Bonnie sighs and looks at the wooden door embedded into the ground. Jenica looks along with her.

"Which way do I go when I'm under?" Bonnie asks, a fear settling in.

"You'll see a blue light, travel to it."

"Alright. I should go before those guards start thinking were sexing it up in here or something," Bonnie says trying to bring some light into a life or death situation. This is her only shot home. Taking risks is something Bonnie has grown familiar to the past couple days since she's gotten here.

_If there's no risk, there's no reward_, Bonnie thinks as she climbs down the ladder. It was something her Grams used to say to her when she was younger. Whenever Bonnie thought twice about doing something she deemed too daring, her Grams would spew that phrase to her over and over again. She tried endlessly to beat it into Bonnie's mind that taking risks will always involve failure, but there is no success without failure. Bonnie tried remembering that as she descending into darkness.

She looks up and sees Jenica waving to her; her long, sundried hair hanging over her shoulders.

"You okay?" Jenica yells.

"Y—Yeah…" Then Bonnie's fingers slip on the metal bar, she lets out a gasp as she swings to the side.

"Oh my god! Bonnie!"

"I'm okay," Bonnie says, getting a grip on the bar. "I'll be okay."

"I'll watch you for as long as I can," Jenica looks behind her. "The guards are getting antsy."

"Haha, they've got ants in their pants," Bonnie laughs nervously.

"Yeah! Good one," Jenica says.

Bonnie looks down, not able to control herself. "Oh my god, it's so dark."

"You should be hitting ground soon! Just breathe like," Jenica imitates breathing with heavy exaggeration, making Bonnie chuckle.

"Stop making me laugh!" Bonnie chuckles. "…I'm just so scared," she mumbles to herself thinking about her current experience. A prisoner. A queen? Nothing she'd ever agree to. Her foot touches the gritty, muddy floor and she exhales deeply. She looks up and there's darkness. Jenica left.

"The guards must have got her…" Bonnie says to herself. She looks in front of her and behind her, seeing nothing but black. Its pitch black. She is not able to see anything. The fear already inside her rises, making her want to give in and climb back up the ladder. That wouldn't do any good. Bonnie knows that. Between here and there or anywhere, danger is a custom. No matter where Bonnie goes, danger seems to follow. Forcing her to make quick decisions and live with the consequences. Well, this is one of those times. As she takes a step forward, the gooey dirt mushing through her toes, she thinks about meeting Damon and going home. Those are the only two motivating factors making her body move.

Bonnie is moving at a fast pace now. She hears the sound of dripping water to echoes of laughter. The laughter scared her at first, but the faster and farther she moves the less she hears them. A blue light begins to radiate in the distance. Hope awakens in Bonnie and her movements grow quicker and clumsier, as she trudges through the mud. The blue light expands and a small a hole is formed. It's a circle. It expands and enlarges as she reaches it. She stops in front of it and reaches to touch it. A smooth, wet feeling chills up her leg. She then feels it on her stomach and back, inside of her shirt. She feels under her shirt and a cold, wormy tail whiffs past her fingers. She shrieks and jumps around trying to throw the large worm off her body. It makes its way up to her neck and softly wraps its body around it. Bonnie falls to the ground, searching for something to defend herself with. The worm's grip gets stronger, and its body grittier. Bonnie could feel her breathing fading as she picks up a rock. She hits the worm and it flails, losing its grip and sliding off her.

She catches her breath, looking at the glowing, blue circle. Her hand sticks through, then she throws her whole body through and is floating underwater. It throws her off guard and she swims back into the circle, panicking.

"Water?" She says to herself, shaking her head. That smooth, wet feeling creeps upon her leg again and she grabs at the worm throwing it into the blue light. It disappears. Bonnie stumbles back, consumed by a self-doubt, and landing in someone's grasp.

"Hello, Bonnie," Bonnie screams as the blonde one whispers in her ear. "My name is Ewan."

"You!" Bonnie pushes him away and he falls back into the darkness, disappearing. "Where'd you go?"

"Did you think you'd be able to leave?" He says, his voice haunting her. "With your lung capacity? Granted, you'd just come back alive and drown again and again in utter misery." He appears before her and she is startled.

"Back away from me," Bonnie tells him, staring into his golden eyes.

"I can't do that, little Miss Sass," He reaches in to rub her chin, but she snatches away.

"Why are you doing this to me? All of you!? Why can't you just let me go?!"

"Because… we like you."

"That's not good enough."

"Because when the Royalty ripped you apart you survived, Missy… And, now, apparently they worship you. They see you as food and some kind of God."

"I don't want to be anyone's God!" She screams. "I don't want to be anything, I just want to go home!"

"But darling… this is your home," He says. A few seconds later, he snaps her neck. Her body falls into his arms and he throws her over his shoulders. "Let's just see if you are a God, sassy one."

Ewan walks into a room full of aroused and playful people, Bonnie hanging dead over his shoulders. The Royalty. They're feeling better ever since they tore Bonnie a new one. Ewan throws Bonnie into the chair Allind usually sits in, and her scrawny little body slumps in it.

"Isn't she gorgeous?" Ewan says, looking at her mesmerized.

"Just magnificient!" One of the Royalty said, clasping his hands.

"Praise her! What is her name?" Another asks.

"Bonnie." Ewan says, seeing Jenica in his peripheral standing at the door. He looks at her and she looks away in disgust. The Royalty shout 'Praise Bonnie; the everlasting gift' over and over again. Bonnie, on the cusp of awakening, hears them except, she blocks out everything but Bonnie. A familiar, teasing voice coming to the forefront.

"Bonnie?" Damon says. Bonnie is sitting down, cross-legged in the forest. She looks over at him. He's leaning against a tree with a smile on his face. "What're you thinking about?"

"Home."

"Why aren't you thinking about me anymore?" He asks, sitting across from her intimately close, putting Bonnie in an awkward position. She could feel his presence move over her skin, without him even touching her.

She scoots back, not being able to distinguish between nervousness and uncomfortableness. "Why would I be thinking about you, Damon?"

He scoots closer to her. "Because. You can see that I care about you. That I might actually love you." Bonnie shifts, the same mixed feelings submitting to her. "Or that you might actually care about me or love me."

Bonnie sighs in frustration. "Damon, what the hell?"

He grabs her face, squishing her lips. "Stop…" He moves closer to her lips. "With all the…" And closer. "Restless banter."

"Are you trying to kiss me?" Bonnie says in a defensive voice.

He pulls away, his fingers slowly rubbing against her lips. She follows his touch without knowing, but catches herself before he realizes.

"Do you know that when you died, you were thinking about me?" Damon says. Bonnie didn't know she was dead though. She stood up and closed her eyes.

When she opens them, she gasped and sees a big table surrounded by eccentric looking people. The same people who feasted upon her body. She latches onto the chair's arm rests. Damon on her mind, with her mind in a haze.

"PRAISE BONNIE; THE EVERLASTING GIFT," the Royalty gathered around the table yelled. "PRAISE BONNIE; THE EVERLASTING GIFT! PRAISE BONNIE; THE EVERLASTING GIFT!"

Bonnie is lost in a gaze. She's staring at each and every soulless eye that surrounds her, looking at her like a snack. She wants to say something, to defend herself, but nothing comes out. She's out of breath and out of anything rational to say. Which is funny, during this very irrational moment. She turns to see Ewan looking at Jenica. Bonnie sees Jenica and a resentment grows within her. She slams her fist on the arm rest and the Royalty stops cheering.

She notices and is surprised. Her eyes averting to all their faces.

"Bonnie, it is a pleasure to be in your presence again," Allind says, sitting at the other end of the table. That's when Bonnie recognized the room; the same one they'd ate her in before. "How are you?"

Bonnie musters up something to say, taking a deep breath. "Are you really asking me that?"

Allind is shocked. He presses his hand on his chest. "Bonnie… I truly do care about you."

"Lies." Bonnie is at the point where she's finished. Her plans never seem to go through, her trust never returned… She is just hopeless and spiteful at this moment.

"No lies, Bonnie," Bonnie rolls her eyes at his comment. "I truly do care about you. While we all die, you stay alive, fortuitously and elegantly. That's a gift, Bonnie. And a blessing. And I want that around me and my family."

"Well, you've gotta pretty big family. Inbreds?"

"We also have a pretty big appetite..."

Bonnie sighs as the never ending torture of this place relaxes into her skin.

"What do you want?"

"We have a proposal. For you, my God, to stay here. And feed us forever. Let our kind live on."

"But I don't think your kind should live on. You feed on the innocent blood of others…" Allind's foot starts tapping. He's annoyed at Bonnie's words. "You say you're not a vampire but, I really don't see a distinction."

He stands up irate and shaking. "YOU are lucky you were BLESSED! YOU are lucky YOU ARE PRAISED by these worthless human beings here!" He points his staff at here. "Because if you weren't… I'd eat you right now. And lick the plate clean."

"You are disgusting."

He laughs. "And you are immortal." He laughs again, his chest convulsing, while the others join in. Bonnie looks at their evil faces. She looks at Ewan too, whose slight smile is easy to miss.

Allind starts walking down the side of the room. "Bonnie, I want us to be friends. To come to an understanding."

"What? I feed you… You what?" Bonnie asks him. "Cause I don't see a silver lining in it for me."

"You are worshipped! PRAISED! That's what you get in return."

"I don't want to be worshipped or praised. I want to be respected and I want to go home."

"This is your home now, Bonnie. Did we give you the grand tour?" Bonnie ignores his questions, looking away from him as he moves closer to her. "My daughter was supposed to, but you cunningly roped her into your escape plan."

"I didn't rope her in. She wanted to help."

"I beg your pardon?"

"She helped me. And I almost escaped…" Bonnie says, the side of her mouth teasing a smile. Allind inhales and exhales furiously.

"Bring HER in here!" He says glaring at Ewan. Ewan doesn't move. He really didn't want to get Jenica. "Well…"

"She didn't have any part of this—" Allind tries to interrupt him, but Ewan keeps going. They scream and yell over each other until Allind slams his staff down. Ewan calms his breathing and walks to the door. He pulls it open and Jenica walks in, mugging him.

"I am sorry," Ewan whispers to her. Jenica shakes her head in a quick, twitching motion. She meets eyes with her father, who is troubled to see her.

"Jenica… Why are you such a bad seed? All my children, ALL MY BEAUTIFUL CHILDREN, accept this lifestyle but you don't? You starve yourself, you make your sister starve herself—"

"She has a choice, father!"

"Well, GIVE IT TO HER!" He screams at her. "You're taking her freewill away, and you know it, so now, for disobeying your elders and your kind… You are sentenced to death. At the hands of the Royalty."

Jenica's eyes filled with water as she disagreed with her father in screams. The Royalty shout and clap in joy and harmony; licking their lips in anticipation. Bonnie stands up, a burning urge to stop it from happening.

"Allind, please! She's your daughter!" Ewan says.

"Bow to your sire!" He points the staff at Ewan and he bows quickly.

"Your obedience to him fuels my hate for you," Jenica says fighting through tears.

"Jenica, you have to forgive me," Ewan says while bowing.

"SHUT UP!" Allind screams at the both of them. "The sights of your egregious efforts to display impudence baffles me! Off to the Damned! Ryder and Conan, lead them to the Damned…"

Allind looks at Bonnie, anger still coursing through his bones. "And YOU. You go with them. "

Bonnie walks over to them, her gaze never leaving Allind's eyes. She wanted to make sure that he knew she is not scared of him, nor will she ever be.

"Until you learn your place as our queen!" He beams at her. Ryder and Conan lead the three of them out of the room and into the white-walled halls.

Ryder and Conan push Bonnie, Jenica, and Ewan into a small elevator. The elevator door closes and an awkwardness presides over the three of them. Bonnie stood in the middle, feeling the most uncomfortable of them all. Standing next to the man who brought her here as well as bit her, and next to the girl who couldn't keep her hormones together to save a life, put a twist on Bonnie's definition of awkwardness. No other moment alike can top this one.

"So," Bonnie looks over at Jenica, "Couldn't keep your mouth shut for this one?"

"I'm sorry," She says to Bonnie, then glares at Ewan, "It'll NEVER happen again."

"It shouldn't have happened in the first place. I trusted you… You shouldn't let boys dictate your life. Believe me, I know. I've watched it happen to my best friend a lot lately…" Bonnie says, her mind drifting off into a familiar place as she sees Elena laughing with her and Caroline in her mind. Everything's changed. When Bonnie told Jeremy to take care of Elena, it was sincere. Because Elena lost herself in the journey of finding Damon. And all Bonnie wants is for her friend to be whole again, on her own.

"Best friend? You have a best friend all the way out here?" Ewan asks, curious.

"Not here." Bonnie says, folding her arms, hoping to give off the message that she doesn't want to talk to him, without explicitly saying it.

Ewan scoffs, and Jenica looks at him with a guilty face. He sighs.

"Look, I'm sorry for biting you and bringing you down here…" Ewan explains to Bonnie. "But you gotta understand we're dying."

"Then die…" Bonnie looks him straight in the eyes. "I don't care."

"You really want me to take a bite out of you don't you, Miss Sassy?"

"Okay, enough!" Jenica stands between them, pushing Ewan over. Bonnie steps over, whipping her bangs out of her face with her head.

"What is the Damned?" Bonnie asks.

"It's a place where the poorest of our families resides. It's where my sister and I sleep."

The elevator door opens and they walk out into a kitchen. The kitchen had a lengthy, short window straight ahead that showed the cafeteria, where the Damned is. Luca is in the kitchen mixing a white liquid in a bowl, standing in front of a wooden table.

"Hey, Luca," Jenica says as they walk by. Ewan hisses at him. Bonnie stands in front of the table.

"Hey," She says to him.

"Hi Bonnie." He says, happy to see her.

"Your food was good."

"Thanks. I added a lil somethin', somethin' just for you." He winks at her.

"What's that you're mixing now?"

"It's a sauce for my dumplings. I took a recipe and spiced it up a little." He turns around to the stove with his bowl and pours it in a boiling pot. Bonnie looks at the counter next to the stove and sees a cookbook.

"What's that?" She points to it.

"It's a book full of recipes of mine and others. Mostly others, though."

Bonnie looks to her right and sees Jenica helping an old, wilted lady sit in the Damned. Luca drops the cookbook in front of Bonnie.

"Take a look through it, get your mind off of the things," Luca says as Bonnie opens the book. She flips through the pages, really trying to distract herself. The things she wanted, the things she NEEDED— they just seemed so out of reach to her.

"How are you doing with everything, Bonnie?" Luca asks, showing her sincerity through his eyes and actions. He leans towards her resting his forearms on the table.

Bonnie flips through the pages. "I'm… still here." Her eyes shoot up at him, then back down at the pages.

"How'd you get here? If you don't mind me asking." Bonnie continues looking through the book. She notices the recipes are color coded. Green, purple, and yellow.

"I died… then I woke up here."

"Me too…" Luca says enthusiastically.

"Not necessarily something I'm happy about. I'm here with Damon Salvatore."

"Damon Salvatore? Oh… I remember that guy." He shakes his head. "I'm not happy about it either. But it's my situation now. What can you do, you know?"

Bonnie shrugs. "What do these colors mean?"

"Green means I know it by heart, purple means I need to practice, and yellow I haven't worked on yet. They all represent a sort of freedom."

Bonnie nods, looking back out towards the Damned.

"You want to meet them? They're nice people."

Bonnie doesn't say anything. She just fixates her eyes on the ceiling and chuckles to herself incredulously. Her mind flows off into another place. Her head hangs back. Luca picks up the cookbook and sits it back on the counter, mixing the dumplings on the stove.

_Green, purple, and yellow,_ Bonnie thinks, _the colors of freedom_. Bonnie always thought it was red, white, and blue. She laughs to herself.

Luca hears her but doesn't say anything. He walks over to a cabinet and opens it. A box of coarse salt is sitting in front of a crowd of different herbs and spices. He grabs the salt and brings it over to the pot, sprinkling a little inside. He starts singing and dancing to himself, to Bonnie's dismay. He spins on his toes, in a slow and smooth motion, smiling at Bonnie as their faces meet. She rolls her eyes, wishing she had the power to escape. And the will also.

He tosses the salt on the counter and mixes the dumpling some more. Bonnie looks out at the Damned again. Jenica sees her and gestures her to come out, but Bonnie shakes her head solemnly. Jenica says the words 'okay' to Bonnie. She turns back to Luca.

He turns the stove off and picks up a ladle to take a taste of the dumpling sauce. He takes a sip and smiles, a warm sensation trickling down his throat.

"You want to taste it?" He asks her.

"No. I think I'm going to go," replies Bonnie.

"But where?"

Bonnie didn't know. She knows of a secret passageway, a bathroom, something like a slum, and a room where a bunch of uppity followers feast upon human insides. She wishes she'd never stepped foot in the water.

Luca sees her calm expression begin to decline into a frown. He circles around the table in a swift motion, taking his apron off and tossing it. He stands in front of her.

"Follow me, I want to show you something."

"I'm supposed to stay down here as punishment."

"No," He holds out his hand. "You'll be fine." He motions for her to follow and she does. She follows him onto the elevator.

"Luca, how'd you get here?" She asks. He looks at her then chuckles. He hates remembering how he became a prisoner to these creatures.

"It was just too easy, you know? I got here. Naked. Wet. Then I found this magnificent body of water… and it pulled me in…" He takes a deep breath, closing his eyes. His head shakes. "I just…" His eyes open. "The minute I got in, I was surrounded by these things. That live here. And they drug me under, and fed on me. But I didn't die." Leaning on a wall, he puts his hands in his pockets.

Bonnie raises her eyebrows in surprise. "Wow. That's almost identical to my situation."

"Really?" He says, his face lighting up.

"Yes. And stop doing that."

"I'm sorry. I can't help it. It's so lonely here…"

Bonnie walks to the other side of the elevator and leans her back on it, her head tilting back.

"How long have you been here?" She asks him.

"It feels like a year or so… they put me in the kitchen after killing me over and over again. Until one time I scared them. I was out for too long… but they didn't want to get rid of me. So, they slaved me around in the kitchen."

"I'm sorry that happened to you."

"I just hope it doesn't happen to you." Luca gazes at her. A caring and soulful gaze in his brown eyes. Bonnie's eyes are clung to the ceiling when the elevator doors open.

"Come on," Luca says. She exits the elevator with him. They walk into the white halls, stopping at a door with a small opening on it; small enough to fit a tray of food through. Luca opens the door and gestures for Bonnie to walk in first.

The room had two beds in it on opposite sides of the room. Bonnie sits on the bed on the right side, Luca sits across from her.

"This is my room," He says, rubbing his thighs excitedly. Bonnie looks at the wall behind him. It had the word 'freedom' across it, in capital letters, in the colors in his cookbook. Luca notices her checking out his artwork. He turns around and looks at it.

"I get bored, I guess…" He chuckles.

"It's really amazing… What inspired you to do it?"

"It's not simple. It's really very complicated so, I'll just give you a sample."

"Okay. I'm all ears," Bonnie says, a sudden realization coming over her that she may be getting used to this situation. It's not something she wanted to feel at the moment.

"They all describe a sort of freedom to me in relation to people. For instance, purple describes the latter and battered. That beautiful person left behind each day, suffering and dismembered. But this person always seems to be attached to the minds of the enticed." Luca tells her. He reaches under his bed and pulls out a box. He opens it and searches through his personal things for a photo. "This is what I wanted to show you."

Bonnie walks over and sits next to him, looking on as he finds the photo. It's a picture of the both of them, at the Mystic Grill. Bonnie's mouth opens, an elated feeling jumping through her bones. She closes her mouth to try and hide her excitement, but couldn't contain her smile.

"Oh my god, I remember that day! That time!" Nostalgia takes over her. "Ugh! That was when me and Jeremy… I was just honing in on the potential of my powers and…" A calmness sets over her face. "I'm never going to get that back."

Luca is speechless for a moment. "But do you see? The purple outline?" He asks her.

She looks closer and sees a purple outline around her body. She moves away from him, sitting on the other bed.

"Bonnie I didn't know it yet, but when I first met you… I could feel you'd been through SO much. The tragedy, the pain you felt… only a person as strong and as confident as you could have endured that. To me, you ARE purple, Bonnie. And that's the best color of freedom to be in my book."

Bonnie tries to stifle a chuckle. "Yeah, because YOU made these definitions." She laughs.

"Well, yeah." He joins in laughing with her.

BOOM! The door comes flying in at the both of them. Luca ducks and Bonnie covers her head, slowly looking up. Urges swell up in her body and she runs to hug Damon. He wraps his arms around her in a slow grasp, and when he does, Bonnie realizes she's hugging him for far too long and pulls away.

Moments pass after a tussle with Allind and Ewan, Bonnie hears Jenica's cries from behind her. She stops.

"What, now?" Damon asks, impatient.

"It's Jenica. We have to help her." She says.

"No, no, no! Hell no! I did not come all this way for you to waste time on me!"

"I promised to help her. She needs me." Bonnie looks him in the eye. As much as he wanted to say no, he understood.

"Go." She runs off. "And hurry UP, Cause— cause I have something to tell you." He says to himself. Luca is mugging him from the side. "What're you looking at?"

"You killed me."

"So what? It's water pushed under the bridge… And honestly, you're lucky if I don't do it again." He says with a teasing smile.

Jenica has Ewan's head on her knees, as she cries over him, begging him to come back. Bonnie crouches in front of her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey," She says. Jenica whips her hand away.

"Your friend did this! Look at him… He doesn't deserve this."

Bonnie doesn't say anything back, staring down at the bloody and disfigured face. She watches Jenica's shaky hands trace over his hair and his jaw line.

"Ewan…" Jenica sobs. "He doesn't deserve this, Bonnie. He was… my father captured his family and he killed them all, sparing Ewan. He was only five years old. He… told me how he had to watch it happen. His family slain in front of him… at five years old. And he felt he had to ally with my dad and agree with him and stay loyal to him because of fear. It was some weird… attachment."

Bonnie moves to the side of her and hugs her, rubbing her arm. "It's okay, it'll be okay. Because I'm going to get you out of here."

"No, I can't. I can't leave!"

"You have to! You have a sister. And from what I understand an innocent one. You cannot let what happen to Ewan, happen to your sister… If your father is okay with killing you, who's to say he wouldn't do that to your sister?"

Jenica nods, pursing her lips. "Just give me a moment then."

"I'll wait for you."

"Go. Because your friend just killed my father, the Royalty's leader… and they won't stop at nothing to take him out."

Bonnie stands up and runs off. She finds Damon and Luca.

"We have to go!"

"Wait, Bonnie!" Damon grabs her. "I have to tell you something."

"What?"

"I found a way home." Damon looks at the floor.

"Oh my god! That's great!" She continues smiling until she sees Damon isn't excited. "But…"

"But I made a deal with a witch to save you. Two actually like a dumbass."

"What did you do?"

Damon takes a deep breath, a part of him wanting to keep it from her and another part of him wanting to tell her. He goes with the latter. Damon and Bonnie have never kept things from each other, not when the situation is this grim.

"I gave her my soul."

"What? How did you do that?"

"Things work differently here. Witches are different. Vampires are."

"So, you sold your soul for me?" Damon nods. She hits him. "Why?"

"What the hell, you ungrateful little— ugh! ...That's not all, Bonnie."

"I am not even here for it right now." She starts walking away. "You can tell me when we're safe."

"I can't leave this place, Bonnie." She stops. "There is never going to BE safe. The ocean is full of vervain. The witch used a protection spell on me… but she didn't guarantee one back."

Bonnie closes her eyes, trying to digest it all. When she saw Damon, her faith was restored and she knew they'd be fine. At least she was right about one thing.

"Come on, Luca," She says and they walk off.

Bonnie and Luca ascend the stairs in the cafeteria. Before running down the tunnels, Bonnie takes one last look back. Was he telling the truth? Luca pulls her away before she could contemplate answering that. They run down the dirt-filled tunnels until Bonnie stops.

"Luca, we have to wait for him," She says.

"Bonnie!"

"No. Plus, Jenica and… I have to go back." She turns around and runs back.

"Bonnie!" He sighs, chasing after her.

Bonnie runs out onto the balcony and sees Damon tearing the Royalty apart. He's zipping from creature to creature ripping them limb from limb. He can feel himself becoming more powerful and hungrier as he sinks his fangs into their skin. Limbs and blood fly everywhere. A body lands behind Bonnie and Luca, its arms and legs in unnatural positions. She hears her name being called.

"Bonnie! BONNIE!?" It's Jenica. Bonnie sprints down the stairs; Luca is too scared to follow. She sees Jenica come through the door with her little red-headed sister.

"We're ready," Jenica says. Bonnie nods and they both look at Damon and the massacre he's created. Jenica covers her sister's eyes and sobs.

"Damon! DAMON!" Bonnie screams. He flashes in front of her, his eye's pulsating red and fangs elongated. She felt his breath on her skin. "You— You need to stop this."

"Why? It's not like I can leave! Let me have my fun!"

"No, Damon! You have to come back. You found a way home and I can't just go back without you!"

She could see it in his eyes. This unwavering fearlessness. She wasn't enough— not like she'd ever been, but especially this time. She's not enough to persuade Damon.

"If not me, at least try for Elena!" Bonnie tells him. Damon grunts. _Elena_, he thinks. Everyone thinks they can use Elena as some catalyst to force him to do something. He nods, but tells himself: This isn't for Elena. This is for himself. Because living for someone else is good, but at least trying to stave off his imminent death is monumental.

"Fine." He says.

"Let's go," Bonnie and Damon run up the stairs with Jenica and her little sister following closely behind.

"I need you to know, Bonnie! I won't survive this! Look at me, I'm falling apart."

"If you don't have faith, that's fine. I have enough for the both of us."

"Ah!" Jenica screams as she's snatched away by one of the Royalty.

"Jenica!" Bonnie yells as she turns around to see her gone. Bonnie sees her little sister run after Jenica. Then she looks at the Royalty: either massacred or enraged. She runs after her little sister and picks her up. The little girl kicks and screams in Bonnie's grasp.

"What're you doing?" Damon asks.

"I promised Jenica I'd save them. I can at least keep half of that promise."

"Oh my GOD, Bonnie. You and your integrity." He says through his teeth. He grabs the little girl and puts her on his shoulders.

They reach the balcony and run down the tunnels into the rotunda. Luca, Damon, Bonnie, and the little girl stand under the glowing blue circle; the orb of safety and tranquility for some of them. Damon takes a deep breath.

"I have to carry all of you… I hope I make it."

"You will!" Bonnie tells him.

"Everybody gather 'round! Even those who hate me," He smiles at Luca. They all get a good grip onto Damon and he hangs on to them too. Bonnie covers the little girl's nose, who is still going crazy. Damon bends his knees and pushes off his legs with all his might. They fly up into the circle and out into the ocean. His speed slows, his blood boils, and his grip weakens as he screams under the water. Luca, Bonnie, and the little girl reach the surface.

"Luca, get to the shore!" She says handing him the little girl. Bonnie dives back under to save Damon. She sees skin peeling away as the vervain eats away at him. She grabs his arm, slipping through his pink, boiled skin at first. She grabs at him again and pulls him up to the surface, inhaling. She swims towards the shore, looking at it. Luca and the little girl are there. Kaya is sitting there with the same bird that attacked Damon perched upon her shoulder. Bonnie reaches the shore and struggles, pulling Damon onto the beach.

"Can I get some help?" She asks. Luca runs over and helps pull Damon's lifeless body onto the beach. Even when he was clear away from the water, his skin still popped and bubbled. Bonnie sits next to him, trying to catch her breath and wait for him to awake. She looks at Kaya, who could be mistaken for her sister. Kaya tilts her head at Bonnie. Then Bonnie sees the little girl is gone and butterflies fill her stomach.

"No!" Bonnie says, her breath escaping her. "I lost her. And I lost…"

"I'm sorry! She was right here!" Luca says.

Kaya stands up. "You must be Bonnie," Kaya says.


	6. By Your Side

The wind blew strong and hard over the rocky expanse. The ocean blue sky hovering over it. Damon sat on the edge of it, his bare feet dangling over the sea. His hair is pulled back tightly into a small knot, with a long, loose strand hanging down the side of his face. He squints out into the distance— could it get better than this? It's a paradise he'd only dreamed of experiencing. He lifts his leg up and rests his foot on the expanse, rolling up his pant leg. He can't remember how he got here. He doesn't care about those details. He is only happy to be granted the chance to experience something he's always wanted: to feel free. He rolls his other pant leg up and keeps that leg resting in front of him, hugging it.

The wind sweeps across the expanse, picking up light weight rocks in its path; stirring up dirt and debris by creating mini tornados. A mini tornado whips by Damon. Red, green, and orange leaves spin in its eye. He watches it move over the expanse and disappear when it hits the middle. He stands on his pale feet and walks to where the tornado stopped. The leaves sit in a circular fashion, the colors of the leaves alternating. He picks up a red leaf with a kind touch; knowing the fragility of it. He holds it up in front of him, and the wind pulls it away from his grasp, and it flows away rhythmically with the wind.

"Hey," Damon turns around and sees Stefan standing a few feet away.

Light clouds move over the blue sky. The sun goes away and incomes the small balls of semi-frozen rain, melting on Damon's tan face. He looks at Stefan, who is looking up towards the sky, his arms spread wide.

"God! I miss snow!" Stefan exclaims. His tongue sticks out and the snow turn from solid to liquid as soon as it hits Stefan's salmon tongue. Damon circles around and sees pine trees fill up in his existence. His favorite season has come, full form and exotic. He shivers as the cold air seeps in, chilling his arms and legs. He folds his arms and wonders why he'd always loved this season.

"Looking for this?" Stefan says. Damon turns around and is relieved to see his leather jacket in Stefan's hands. He takes it and puts it on, zipping it up.

"You do this?" Damon asks.

"No." Stefan says, tucking his hands into his coat pocket. He looks past Damon, amazed at the view. The snow falls between the pine trees so gracefully. Damon turns to look too.

"You know, this is my favorite season…" Damon says, the snow still so alluring. "People are so afraid of it. It's cold and uncomfortable. It can get messy. It can be an obstacle."

"Wow. Winter sounds a lot like you, Damon," Stefan says, biting his lip to stop from busting out in laughter.

"That… wasn't funny."

"It was gold…" Stefan's expression withdraws from a kind and playful one. It forms into a touching, understanding face. His eye's turn into emotional tethers that would make anyone want to vent to. Damon turns to look at him.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Damon asks.

"We need you to come home, Damon."

"But I am home! Why can't you all just join me here?" He says, excitement in his voice. Damon runs off and scoops up some snow, forming a ball in his hands. Over his shoulders, he hears Stefan's grave voice:

"A deer can only go so far, until it sees the headlights. Damon."

Damon scoffs, turning around and throwing the snowball. Stefan is gone. The blue sky hovers back in and the sun's rays gaze down over the expanse. The sun melts around his feet in a quick motion. The snow in his hair blends in with his dark strands. The pine trees behind him disappear. Not a semblance of them left behind. Damon's mouth opens a little; his dry lips slowly pulling apart. Where had Stefan gone? Where is Winter?

That's when he realized all this wasn't real. But he didn't get mad. Anger didn't grow inside of him like blood pumping through a person's veins. He walks to the edge of the expanse and stands on the cliff. The water splashes up against the large, sharp rocks at the bottom. The wind moves in from the west and Damon looks in that direction. He squints his eyes and moves his head in a little closer. He sees something. A black speck, growing larger and larger.

It really is fake. This world. This environment. He'd created it all in his head… to escape from what? Probably some torture. Or pain. Or maybe he's high off human blood, and he's coming off of it. Maybe he's drowning in guilt.

Without even knowing, his body is moving away from the speck. He looks back and sees the speck even larger, it's edges web-like and sharp. He looks ahead and sees that the rocky expanse runs for miles. There's no getting away. No one can get away from the inevitable. No one can escape the ruin that is their minds. But Damon tries anyway. It wouldn't be him if he didn't.

He starts sprinting down the expanse. Looking back, the speck is no longer a speck. It's huge and annihilating and it's coming for Damon.

He feels a burn start in his forearm. He stops running, lifting his forearm up. On the underside, the skin looked melted and crater-like. He touches it with his other hand and it stings. It fries as smoke leaves it and evaporates in thin air. He feels it again and shudders, falling to his knees. He lifts up both of his arms through struggle and palpitation. His arms are burning, all melted and crater-like. It creeps through his shirt and up to his face as the blackness consumes everything around him. He falls.

Bonnie could feel the tears trying to make their way in. After all, they had every right to. She watched her Grams die twice, and the second in the most trauma-inducing way. She's lost and without her guidance now. Forever. A hot sensation erupts in her body and she has to open her mouth to catch a breath. She looks up at the sun, the patient glory that hangs above, and wishes for some of that patience. For just a taste of its timeless tolerance, or its powerful resolution.

She cannot even look Damon in the face. She can't even see his eyes. His face is unrecognizable. It's disfigured and she's trying to muster up the confidence to help him. To feed her his blood, but she can't do it. It's unlike Bonnie to behave in this light— and not because it's Damon Salvatore. He's fed her his blood before, there's nothing intimate about that. Bonnie can't do it because she would have to look Damon Salvatore in his troubled, bulging eyes and feed him. And how much blood will it take to heal him fully? To restore is face and body, inside and out, physically and mentally, back to health completely? She doesn't know. Her capacity of knowing is becoming empty day by day.

"Luca!" She calls to him. He looks at her. "I need you to go find Jenica's little sister right now!"

Though he didn't want to, he ventured off into the forest in search of Jenica's sister. Bonnie decided to stay with Damon. The tingle in her fingers is telling her to give him some of her blood but the thought of his uncontrollable desire for it takes hold of Bonnie. She doesn't let that dictate what she does. She told Damon to have faith, and though he didn't, he still came back with her. This could be her fault. This is her only chance to save him.

She picks up a rock off the sandy floor and slashes it across her wrist. She lets out a moan. Kaya watches her, fascinated at her determination.

"Wow. You must really love this vampire," Kaya says. She bends over to get a closer look as Bonnie holds her arm over Damon's head. His face is hanging to the side. He's gone.

"Damon!" She says, grabbing his jaws forcefully and facing his head straight up. "Come on, drink!" The blood drips on his lips and there is no movement. Kaya and her bird look at each other, then back at Damon and Bonnie.

"It doesn't look like it's working," Kaya says. Bonnie rolls her eyes. She pushes her lips together as she squeezes her wrist to spill more blood. Damon's lip do not even move slightly. She drops her arm and gives up, shaking her head.

"It is always something." She says, to herself. "Always a bump in the road." She exhales.

"I didn't quite catch that," Kaya says, leaning into Bonnie. "What'd you say?"

"Are you the witch that knows the way back home?" Bonnie stands up.

Kaya starts cackling, the bird flying around her as she laughs down the beach. Bonnie's jaw drops in anger and her eyes swell up. "He ACTUALLY believed that?"

Bonnie's face became animated with an unrestrained animosity. It was a lie. Of course it was lie, simplicity is the gateway to trickery. And here Bonnie is, fooled again.

"Why wouldn't he believe me in that state he was in? And look at him now," Kaya says.

"I am so sick of evil witches," Bonnie says to her.

"It takes one to know one," Kaya says in a tease. She walks up the beach to Bonnie.

"I'm not a witch anymore. If it means running in a league full of people like you, then I'd think I'd rather sit this one out."

"Okay, then. Sit," Kaya motions for her to sit and Bonnie is forcefully pulled to the ground. Kaya walks around Damon and Bonnie, like she is sizing them up. Or sizing Bonnie up. She rubs her chin, an idea coming to her mind.

"You two are an interesting couple," Kaya says, observing them.

"We're not a couple," Bonnie tells her, looking out into the ocean. "We're just… two lost souls wanting to get home."

Kaya smiles. Bonnie can see the facetiousness emanating off of Kaya.

"Like there's this fire between you two…"

"We're just… associates. Friends by association," Bonnie shrugs.

Kaya ignites a line of fire in between Damon and Bonnie. Bonnie jumps out of the way.

"What the hell?!" Bonnie yells.

"You don't see that fire?" Kaya says.

Kaya's supposed to be a witch. A person with morals, a person who is just. But all Bonnie can see is a girl abusing her powerful abilities. It makes her upset that she's taking her powers for granted. Kaya puts the fire out and Bonnie sits back down, her eyes staying on Kaya.

Kaya claps her hands together and interlocks her fingers. She sighs, resting her chin on her hands.

"I'm so bored," Kaya says, her eyes wandering from Bonnie to Damon. She crouches next to him. "He's real messed up."

"Yeah, and it's your fault. If you hadn't been so selfish with your powers, he wouldn't be in that position!"

"Don't blame me for his ignorance. He was so hell bent on saving you, he would have done anything."

"No, he wouldn't have. You manipulated him!"

A quietness settles between them. Kaya smirks. "Yeah, I kinda did." She stands up and steps over Damon's body, walking past Bonnie.

"Where are you going? You have to help me!" Bonnie tells her.

"There isn't much I can do. There isn't much I will do either… but if you must have some help, witch, then I'll let you know one thing: he's not dead."

Kaya has a serious look on her face. Bonnie wants to believe her, but the girl is so transparent. She bleeds cynicism anywhere she goes.

"Until we meet again, Bonnie."

"Do you really not know a way out of here?"

"No. How you got here is a miracle in itself. The divine beings just showing us that there is something bigger out there."

Kaya, and her crow, walk into the forest, leaving Bonnie to stay with Damon. Bonnie turns back to Damon and scans somberly over his body. The waves crashed onto the shore, a few feet from Bonnie and Damon. The wind soared past her face, moving her bangs away and unveiling her gloomy and stressful face. She put her arms on her knees and the stern face she once had disappeared without notice and blossoms a face of conviction. An expression that believes in the power of miracles and the power of the self.

Bonnie knows Damon is still there, buried under the second degree burns. Under of all the red, pink, wet looking skin. Under the blisters, the swollen skin, and under his tragically charred face, Damon is in there. Bonnie knows this and she just has to wait for him to wake up from this torment. Just looking at him, she can tell he is suffering through immense pain… or will whenever he comes to. They are friends. What she told Kaya is a lie. They're not friends by association. They're friends because of a connection between them, a thin line of contrast and comparison, a unique despondence shared upon the both of them. And in this moment if not ever, is where the link is most tangible. Bonnie interlocks her fingers with Damon's hand. He moves uncomfortably at first, his torso rising in the air and head tilting back. She stops, scared she's causing him pain, then moves slowly and cautiously. His body eases back down. She places her other hand over hers.

Bonnie closes her eyes as the wind comes to a calm. She's tired. And her stomach is aching. The day doesn't feel half way over to Bonnie. The sun's at the highest point in the sky.

_What time would that be?_ She asks herself. Sleeping during the day is something Bonnie is not akin too. Though at this time, in the restlessness of the day Bonnie wouldn't mind taking a little nap. She could use the rest. All she has is time now.

"Bonnie." Bonnie looks to her left and sees Luca walking out of the forest with Jenica's little sister. The little red-headed girl looked down as she walks. Bonnie removes her hand from Damon's quickly, before Luca could notice, but he is too busy focusing on the little girl. Bonnie stands up and tries to smile in spite of recent events.

"Hi," Bonnie walks up to her. "I'm Bonnie." The girl isn't looking at Bonnie. She's staring at Damon's painful looking body. Bonnie looks back at Damon, trying to think of something to say. She inhales. "Um…" She turns back to the girl.

"How about we go for a walk?" The little girl clings to Luca's arm, hiding her face. Bonnie sighs and looks up to the sky.

_What the hell am I doing?_ She thinks.

"She's not going to hurt you," Luca says to the girl. "Her names Arabess."

"Arabess? That's a beautiful and unique name. Perfect for a girl like you."

Arabess moves her head towards Bonnie a little and shows her immaculate green eyes. Bonnie can see she's still a bit scared and will be for awhile. Her family was slaughtered in front of her and she probably recognizes Damon from the massacre. Her sister was taken from her. The girl doesn't know what to think. And Bonnie understands. She'll need time.

Bonnie looks up at Luca and sees him glaring at Damon's body.

"Is he okay?" He asks.

Bonnie looks at Damon too. "He's going to be. We just need to give him time… we all just need time."

The little girl sits down, in a cradled position, staring straight ahead. Her eyes were big and heavy, which is not surprising as she just witnessed her family getting killed. Bonnie kneels in front of her.

"Hey, Arabess. You don't have to say anything. Not until you're ready, but know this. Your sister asked me to protect you and I intend to do that. I'm your friend, okay?" Bonnie says to her trying to be friendly. Arabess doesn't flinch. There's no nod or disagreement, just a concrete stare. She probably doesn't even see Bonnie.

Luca and Bonnie walk down to the shoreline and sit. Bonnie pulls up her pant legs and lets her feet submerge in the water, but that's the farthest she's going. Luca sits crossed-legged next to her and plays with the sand.

"Wish I had my cookbook," He says with a congenial smile. Bonnie smiles back. She turns around to check on Arabess and she's still there.

"Did I do the right thing? Bringing her with us?" Bonnie asks him.

"Jenica would have wanted it, I'm sure."

Bonnie breathes in the afternoon air and sighs. This day has been long so far, and it doesn't even feel like it's close to over. Her body just wants to collapse into slumber and forget about the day's tragedies for a few hours. She leans back on her hands and closes her eyes.

"I feel numb," Luca tells Bonnie. He reaches in his back pocket. Out comes the photograph of him and Bonnie. The bold, purple outline around her face. He shows it to Bonnie and they exchange looks in the silence between them. He turns his gaze away and puts the photo between them. Bonnie stares at it and thinks of those colors Luca talked so passionately about. She thought of his description of her in relation to the color purple. This second, she felt as if she is the latter and battered, the suffering and dismembered.

"I want to go home," She says to herself unknowingly. Luca hears her though and he cuts his eyes at her. She slowly lays back and her eyes shut. "Luca, wake me up if Damon does."

"Sure thing," Luca says to her.


	7. The Day Go By

Air particles rest on Bonnie's face as she opens her eyes to a new day. The sun generates light in the distance as Bonnie sits up.

Damon's face remains unchanged— minimally. His healing process is slow; which could be the product of his vampire abilities declining. The land of the Forgotten isn't a place for a vampire, not in this forest anyway. It's draining him, just as much as his wounds are. Bonnie walks over to him detached, head down.

Her eyes swiftly move up his body. His finger twitches. Her mouth drops a little, a small gasp is heard. She watches for anymore movements, but he doesn't move. No twitch. Not a flinch. Nothing to let Bonnie know he's okay.

"Arabess?" Luca stirs in the sand, eyes wide as he searches for her. "Arabess!" He says, springing upward, looking past Bonnie. His mouth open and at a standstill. Just the motionless breaths entering and leaving his mouth. Bonnie turns to look at Luca, a frantic and culpable expression.

"You lost her?" She says, incredulous in tone. She rolls her eyes, placing her hands on her hips. She didn't know why she was placing blame on Luca, when they're both to blame. More so Bonnie because she promised Jenica she would protect her.

Luca points behind her, his heart relieving into a steady beat. "There she is," He says, catching his breath.

Bonnie turns around to see Arabess, almost twenty yards away, playing with the sand. A displeasure darkened on her face. Bonnie rubs her forehead and exhales. Luca walks past her, heading to Arabess.

"Luca, I'm sorry," She says in a rush. She sighs again. The frustration is taking a toll on her. Plus, she's hungry. And possibly, so is Arabess. And Luca. And… Damon. They're all starving and trying to grasp the concept of survival.

Bonnie takes a look at Damon, and before going to Arabess, she picks up a rock and slits her wrist, attempting to feed him. She saw the dried up blood from her last attempt on his chapped, charred lips, becoming dissuaded. She pulls away.

He looked so peacefully lying in that painful skin. It was a weird sight. An alluring affliction.

She stands up, shaking herself from this trance and makes her way over to Arabess. She takes a look back at Damon. She didn't want to leave him by himself, lying there incapable and vulnerable. But she feels compelled to check on Arabess.

Luca is watching Arabess build a sandcastle. He watches her with his hands tucked into his pockets, a bright smile on his face.

"That's good, Arabess," He says in a light, friendly voice. "Keep it up."

Bonnie stands next to him and conjures up a joyful smile.

"Hey," She says to him, swallowing.

"Hey," he replies as his smile turns into a frown.

"How is she?" Bonnie asks, the corners of her mouth turning up. Bonnie only wished she was as serene and calm as Arabess when she was younger. She was artistic and imaginative, a glowing ball of creativity. She wished she'd had kept all that. All of it. She can see it in Arabess as she builds the sandcastle.

"Still not communicating. At all," He says, an array of disappointment vibing through his voice. "I don't get it. I've known her for quite some time."

"She needs time, Luca. Think about what she's been through," Bonnie says almost pleadingly, compassion in her voice.

"You're right," Luca agrees. He then smiles at Arabess again, waving.

"Can I sit?" Bonnie asks Arabess. The little girl doesn't glance at Bonnie. She just pats the sides of her sandcastle with her muddy hands. Bonnie sits down, hesitantly, next to Arabess. "You're really good, you know," Bonnie tells her.

She picks up some sand and thinks about building her own castle of some sort. Bonnie hasn't played in sand since she was a kid, thinking of doing it now gives her a strange feeling.

"You got some sand I can borrow for my castle?" Bonnie asks her. Arabess looks around the beach, as if she's telling Bonnie there's an entire beach full of sand. Bonnie lifts her chin in a pensive aspect and she nods. "Oh, okay," She chuckles, "I see how it is."

Arabess' cheeks sink in as she finishes her sandcastle. She puts her hands at her side and stares at it. A deep, enigmatic look veils over her face. Bonnie looks at her and stops what she's doing. She looks at her sandcastle and sighs in sadness. A tear rolls down Arabess' irreparable face. Bonnie reaches to wipe it but, can't bring herself to do it.

"This…" Bonnie speaks, trying to comfort her, "I was in the process of building my home too. It's just as beautiful as yours."

Arabess turns to look at Bonnie's pathetic hump. Her lip twitches, as if begetting a smile, but the same sad and still look stays on her face. Bonnie half-smiles a bit.

"Trust me, it was going to be as beautiful as yours," She chuckles, looking at Luca who is smiling and back at Arabess. The water in her eyes, as still as a lake, wade back and forth in her eyelids as if waiting for the right time to drop. So much so, you could almost see the green reflection off of it in her eye. Bonnie could. Another tear drops down her emotionless face and slows its run when it hits her button nose.

Arabess stands up, dusting the sand off her ragged clothing and walks in Damon's direction. Bonnie and Luca follow her closely behind.

"Why does she look like she's falling apart?" The words slip from Luca's lips in a rush as he couldn't contain them anymore.

"Because she is," Bonnie says, staring at the girl's red hair, draped down her back. "But we'll be the ones to put her back together."

Arabess sits a few feet behind Damon and stares at him. Luca and Bonnie stare with her.

"You sure he's okay?" Luca asks, looking at Damon in revulsion. Bonnie sees the way he's looking at him.

"Yes," She says confident. Her eyes glued to him, glaring. "He will be okay." She sighs loudly and her stomach begins to growl. She holds her stomach, the pain constant and perpetual. Luca helps her sit and she realizes this is all more than she can handle.

Taking care of Damon, taking care of Arabess, and taking care of herself… it's accumulating to be too much for Bonnie. She can feel her frustration bubbling inside her, boiling and rising, preparing to explode. Damon needs to wake up and he needs to do it now.

_I need him_. She never thought she'd think it. But the reality of it is, if Damon was able he'd be a big help right now. Bonnie can handle herself. She's strong that way. But carrying the weight of Damon and the emotionless shell of Arabess is something she can't do on her own. Luca isn't being the best supporter. He's trying, but something isn't working out.

She pushes his hands away lightly, letting him know she's good.

"We have to do something about food, shelter… water," Bonnie says in a hurried voice. The thought of this mess and the obligations attached to it stresses her out vastly.

"Look, I'll stay here. Hunt for some fish or something," Luca says, "You go see if you can find us something to shack in."

"I wouldn't even know where to start."

Luca shrugs. "Me neither!" He says with a hint of ridicule. Bonnie cuts her eyes away from him, licking her lips in annoyance.

"Luca, I don't even feel comfortable splitting up." Bonnie takes a look at Arabess and then back at Damon.

"Do we really have a choice?" Luca says as his eyes move to Damon, his jaw clenched. Bonnie can see the dislike growing on Luca's face of Damon. If this was Mystic Falls, and the two never died, she wouldn't care. But a trigger deep inside of her is letting her know this is not okay.

"Fine. I'll go… just watch out for Arabess. And don't be disrespectful to Damon," She says, her eyes glimmer with glare and empathy as she looks into Luca's. She can relate to where his hate comes from, but that doesn't mean she'll allow him to subliminally bash him. Her eyes move to Damon's body. "Not right now," She says, pursing her lips in hopes Damon will be back when she's returned.

Luca nods and stands up. Bonnie stands up with him.

"I'm serious, Luca," Bonnie tells him. He walks away and Bonnie walks over to Arabess, putting her hands on her thighs as she bends down.

"I have to go now, okay?" Bonnie tells her. "I want you to watch my friend," She points to Damon. "He's sleeping, but will wake up soon. Can you do that until I get back?"

Fixated on Damon, Arabess doesn't even acknowledge Bonnie. Her mouth agape, she gazes at Damon with a sharp look. Bonnie presents a smile and puts a hand on her shoulder, then she stands up and makes her way into the forest.

"Alright, Luca, I'll be back!" She hollers.

Bonnie steps over the uprooted tree, continuing her journey to finding shelter. She tries to listen to nature— not like she used to be able to though, just as a regular human being in search for satisfaction. She just wanted water. And not the water of the sea, entrenched with salt. Bonnie thought of some cold water grazing her lips and sinking into her throat. The instant contentment hitting her like a train colliding into a car. The euphoric, ocean-like feeling running from her toes through her legs to her upper body. She hasn't had a drink of water in a long time, or well, since she died. It'd be a long time coming, an ode to nostalgia, and the first step back on the train of hope. It's something she's looking forward to.

She hopped onto lower ground, the elevation dropping suddenly, and hiked forward. She notices a barely visible path. The leaves, branches, and grass covering it in patches. She follows it, getting the feeling it will lead her to something good. And where else is she going to go? She has no idea where she is headed… and is just realizing how stupid and risky of a decision this was. She can hear Damon now burying it in her face about how stupid it was for her to go out here alone. But it was either that or die. And she wasn't engaging in the latter at all. Not this time.

She follows the narrow path. Ahead, the trees become skinnier and the sun of dawn shines in between them, creating a blurriness as the light fog moves through the rays. The trail suddenly ends. Bonnie contemplates going or turning around. She doesn't do this for long as it wastes time, and although she has time that does not mean it should be wasted.

The trees were inches apart and not much space for Bonnie's small feet to be planted. She tip-toes and weaves through the trees, walking towards the sun. She grabs on each slim tree, using them to help her move.

The trees begin to expand in the distance. She reaches the area and sees the gradual decline the land has. She walks forward, gravitating towards something. A bird chirps nearby. She sees something glistening in the distance. Something blue. A smile comes over her face. The hill in decline makes her move faster to it. She stops, hanging onto a tree that stretched over the lake. It was small, but looked so mysterious and untouched. Bonnie laughs to herself, so happy she found a potable source of water. She runs to it and sees her reflection.

Dirt and dried sand claimed her face. She hasn't seen her reflection in awhile. It's uncanny looking at it now.

She washes the water over her face and it sends a cold chill through her body.

_Oh my god,_ Bonnie thinks, the water running down her neck and into her shirt. A look of surprise expresses on her face as she realizes she should tell the others. She stands up and turns around, jumping back and crawling into the water, frightened. A panther cub stares its golden eyes at Bonnie, right in her path.

Luca walks out of the forest with a long, narrow stick in his hands. The sun's heat began to make him sweat, and he tied his shirt atop his head to combat it. He sits a few feet across from Damon and diagonal from Arabess.

Arabess hasn't stopped looking at Damon. The elusiveness in her eyes indicate she's just fixated. Maybe not on Damon, but maybe on something else. She blinks. Her eyes alluding to Damon's pink, bulgy right eye. She blinks again. Now fixated upon his half-crater-like, half healed left hand rested on his stomach. She blinks and notices the tear in his pants, with two parallel scars on his thigh.

Luca looks at her while flipping his stick into the air and catching it. "Watch this," he says as he tosses it up in the air and spins, catching it behind his back. He spins it in his grasp and Arabess actually looks. That same fixated look. Then she looks back at Damon, his lip quivering. Bonnie's blood slips inside his lips.

The stick flies clumsily out of Luca's hands and lands near Damon. He runs over and picks it up, glaring Damon in the face. Arabess sees Luca's death stare on Damon. He looks at her and she looks away, quickly. Luca sighs.

"It's not… it's just the guy killed me," Luca says to her, as if she's grown accustomed to this. "He burned me to death and…" Luca looks over at Damon's body, transfixed on it. His mind wanders and Arabess isn't even there anymore. "He deserves this. Even more than he can imagine."

Arabess listens to Luca's harsh words spit out of his mouth. She watches his eyes, unmoving and challenging. A thought pops in her mind. She gasps and looks up at Luca.

He shakes his head. "I shouldn't be talking to you about this," He says to her, itching his head, thinking. "Even with everything that's happened you're still too young." He gives her a friendly, almost patronizing smile and walks away. "If you want to help me get some food, you are welcome."

Arabess doesn't move. When he looks away, she looks behind her. Staring into the forest, captivated by its vastness and greenness. It's unpredictable scenery. It's nothing she's seen before. All of this is nothing she's seen before. This was something her sister promised to show her. The outside. And here she is experiencing the terrifying outside world, with no plans of returning home. What Arabess saw happen to her family— not a word she knows can describe it. And here she is, with complete strangers, with no plans of returning home.

Luca picks up a rock and sits on the shore with his stick. He starts carving the stick into a stake.

A skinny, pale, and sweaty looking man walks out of the forest, his mouth hanging open. The saliva left Ross' mouth so suddenly, he almost fell trying to catch it. Luca heard Ross and stood up. Arabess runs to Damon's side, clutching his arm by instinct. She stares at Damon, his face shifting a little.

"Damon?!" Ross runs over to Damon's body and falls next to it, his hands moving insanely over his body. "I told you not to trust those witch bitches!" Ross says, his voice reaching an intense high on 'bitches'. He looks at Arabess, confused. He then looks back at Damon.

"He was my last friend…" Ross whispers to himself. He's in disbelief. Damon was so strong and determined and resilient to him. "What happened?" He looked to Arabess to answer him. She just looked at Damon.

Luca marches toward Ross, the stake in his hand. Ross stands up, putting his hands in front of him.

"I'm not trying to hurt you!" Ross cries, beseeching.

"Who are you!?" Luca roars. Luca aims his stake at Ross and Ross shakes his head, taking slow steps back.

Bonnie stumbles out of the forest, a confused look on his face. Luca runs over to her, seeing if she's okay. She holds up her hand in front of him.

"Is Damon and Arabess alright?" She says to him, adamantly, the confusion leaving her face. She walks past Luca, to Luca's dismay, and over to Arabess and Damon. She stops when she sees Ross sniffing the air forcefully.

"You're Bonnie…" A smile grows on Ross' face. "Oh my god! He found you! That's how he…" He points to Damon, figuring out what happened.

"Who are you?" Bonnie asks him, her head cocked to the side a little.

"Ross. I'm a friend of Damon's," Ross says nodding.

"Friend? Damon doesn't have friends," Bonnie tells him, matter-of-factly.

"Well…" He shrugs, lifting his arms up to his head and running his hands through his hair. Bonnie crouches next to Damon and Arabess. "Is he dead?" Ross asks.

"No, he's there. I just… I can't keep him here like this."

Ross lifts his finger up in the air. "I know of a place…" He says dizzily. "I really do."

"You can take us?" Bonnie says.

"Bonnie!" Luca yells at her, still pointing his stake at Ross. "I don't trust him."

"Damon's life is in danger, Luca! What do we have to lose?" Bonnie says. Luca slowly lowers the stake, clenching his jaws.

Bonnie swallows. She seems to be doing that a lot now. Preparing herself. Mostly for the worst. She looks at the obviously weakened vampire with a glare in her eyes. "You a vampire, right?"

"Yes," Ross says in a quick whisper.

"You know of a safe place?" Bonnie asks him.

"Well, it's—" He says in a doubtful tone.

"Do you KNOW of a safe place?" She asks, the sound of her voice instilling an obedience in him.

"Yes!"

"Well. Carry Damon?" She says to him. "Luca, Arabess… let's go."

Ross picks Damon up and throws him over his shoulders. It takes a massive amount of his energy, and the walk to his cabin is going to be even more tiring. He closes his eyes and braces himself. Accidentally patting Damon's butt when he meant to pat his back.

Arabess stands up when she sees Ross pick Damon up. She follows quickly behind Ross as he walks into the forest.

Bonnie looks at Luca, who is solely against this endeavor. Bonnie then looks away. She doesn't need people to have doubt around her. Especially not now.

Ross takes them through the same path Bonnie followed. Bonnie walks next to Arabess. The both of them behind Ross. Luca follows behind them, his stake in his hand.

Luca puts his stick in the side of his pants, sharp side up. He removes his shirt from his head and wipes the sweat from his face and torso.

"I'm so thirsty," Luca says, through hesitant breaths. Dehydration is starting to become a problem for all of them.

"We all are," She says, turning her head towards Luca's direction. She didn't like how he complained and made obvious the simple dangers they all knew of. One: it's beating a dead horse. When they find what they are looking for, and they will, it'll be a problem solved. Two: It could scare Arabess even more. Bonnie didn't know her age, but she could guess. The girl looked about eight or nine or ten. She definitely has the sense to catch onto when things are getting desperate, especially after what she's experienced. Arabess doesn't say much, which is a struggle for Luca and Bonnie to interpret how she's feeling. Assumption is the only resolution in this instance for Bonnie.

Bonnie's just become apprehensive and very protective and vigilante over herself, Damon, and Arabess… even Luca, though he's been more to handle than the both of them. She feels imposed as a leader. Even Damon, with his hand's hanging limp down Ross's back; he's probably thinking she should be the one taking on that role.

Arabess lifts her hand up to Damon's, wrapping her hand around his fingers. She glances at Bonnie, who smiles at her. Arabess looks back at Damon, and Bonnie's smile fades.

"How far along are we?" Bonnie asks, the thought prodding against the sides of her mind. She looks ahead, familiarity in the distance. The lake.

"Almost," Ross says, exhausted. Bonnie furrows her brow. She runs up to look at him.

"Are you okay?" She asks him, examining his face.

"Totally, I'm just…" Ross' eyes close and he falls against a tree. Bonnie tries to catch him, but the weight of him and Damon combined just pulls her. He takes some time to catch his breath. "I just need…" He says, losing breath.

"Take your time." Bonnie tells him, slowly retracting, trying to hide her surprise. She should have realized this vampire's hunger the time she met him. He looks like a white stick bug.

Bonnie looks at Luca and Arabess: three candidates for this vampire to gladly feed off of, including herself.

"You say we're close right?" Bonnie asks him as he stands up.

"Yeah, just stay close behind. There are…" He tries to catch his breath. "There are other vamps in this forest. They're not like me."

Luca's mouth tightens in anger. He pulls out his stake.

"Not like you?" Luca says in a suspicious voice, his eyes narrowing as he steps between Bonnie and Arabess. "Look at you, you can smell our blood can't you?"

Ross' lip trembles. He looks at all of them, from the little girl to Bonnie. And Bonnie's scent…

_Sweet loving Jesus,_ Ross thinks as he smells the almost palpable blood coursing through Bonnie's veins. He doesn't want to tell the truth.

Luca walks closer to him, as if challenging him. He lifts his chin up in Ross' face. "What's it smell like?"

Ross' nonexistent heart beat fast. He looks at Luca's neck and can see the vein clearly pulsating, wanting him to launch.

Bonnie steps between them, glaring at Luca. "What the hell is wrong with you?" She says with a hasty disdain.

"No, Bonnie! What the hell is wrong with you?!" Luca flips on her, pointing his finger in her face. "He's a vampire!"

"So is Damon! You going to try and kill him too?" Bonnie says, her eyes averting to Arabess and back to Luca. He drops his head and shakes it, backing away.

"I am done," He says, tossing the stake and pacing away.

"Look, we are all on edge here," She tells the group. "But we have got to keep our composure and stay together. It's our only hope at surviving."

"For you guys, at least," Ross says under his breath. Bonnie hears and turns to him.

"What do you mean?"

"It's nothing—but look. There are other, less kind vampires in this never-ending torment of a forest. They are sick and unmerciful… No mercy for anyone." He puts a soulful emphasis on the last few words, trying to convey a message about Arabess without actually looking at her. Bonnie nods. She understands. Ross may be the last vampire they come across in this forest that isn't looking for a feed, but instead is looking for a friend.

Ross' face declines into something sorrowful, and undeniably dispirited. He stares at the ground for a moment and Bonnie watches. She lets him have his time, because what he's doing takes a lot of resistance and energy in his state. He takes a deep breath and starts walking. Arabess following him.

"Let's go," Ross says. Bonnie turns around and looks at Luca, he's still pacing. He looks up and meets her eyes, pulling him in. He sighs and starts walking with the others. She takes a look back at how far they've traveled.

_No going back_, she thinks. Her eyes narrow, and she thinks of something. This isn't the same path she traveled. She'd thought they were heading to the lake but, they're going a different way. They need that water.

Bonnie catches up to them.

"Hey Ross, isn't there a lake somewhere around here?" Bonnie asks him. He stops and turns around.

"You know about that place?" He says, shocked. Bonnie nods. "It's not too far from here. I thought only I knew about it… Hm." He shrugs and continues walking, his face still in shock. They follow him on the trail.

Up ahead, the trail runs into a narrow dirt road, with wheel tracks running perpendicular to the trail. They turn onto that road and a small cabin is seen ahead.

"Land ho!" Ross says, pointing to the cabin ahead. He chuckles. "I know that's used in the entirely wrong expression but." He smirks.

Ross opens the door to the cabin and walks in. Arabess follows behind him, then Bonnie and Luca. Bonnie takes a quick glance around the cabin. It's not as big, but enough for the five of them. There's a sofa and chair around a glass table when they walk in. A statue of a polar bear lying on his back with his legs up is holding the glass table in the air. The left side is a window and a bookcase, with a green and yellow argyle rug in front of the bookcase. The right is a secluded area with a small, circular table and a candle on it. The kitchen is connected to that area in acorner.

Ross takes Damon down the hall, between the kitchen and sofa, into one of the two rooms. Bonnie follows him back there.

Arabess watches them walk away. When they disappear into one of the rooms, she walks over to the table and sits at it. She looks at the candle and tilts her head. Behind her, a window lets the sun shine through. She turns around and looks through it, her face incontinent and without emotion. She lets the rays burn on her milky face.

Luca leans on the wall next to the door, folding his arms, wishing he had something to occupy himself at the time. He looks at Arabess, who's still looking out the window, and makes his way across the room to the kitchen. He opens the fridge. There's nothing but empty bottles of blood. He checks the cabinets too. Still, nothing. He leans against the kitchen counter and stares at it, a hunger surging through him.

In the room, Ross lays Damon onto the bed, his charred body feeling relief. Bonnie sits on the other side of the bed, looking at him.

"Do you know why he isn't healing faster?" Bonnie asks him, a little scared. It hasn't been long, but it's been long enough for her to become alarmed. She just wants him to awake, or just to let him know she's okay. And not with some vague twitch of a finger or something, but something concrete and unambiguous. Something that'll light the fire of hope burning inside of Bonnie even brighter.

"The only thing I can think of," Ross says, standing hazily over Damon, "is it's this land having an effect on him. It'll take time and a LOT of blood. I'm not going to lie to you, it isn't going to be easy."

Bonnie scoffs, blinking. "It already isn't." She sighs and rests her head on her hand.

"He took a beating though," Ross says, analyzing his body with his eyes. It's not something that gets better, looking at Damon. His body is sort of a parallel to life, especially for Bonnie. It looks so painful and so hurtful, and it probably is… but it's something you get used to. At first, Bonnie couldn't look at Damon in this way. But she's learned how to look at him without feeling repulsed.

Which is funny, because Damon usually repulsed her before all this, but now she's finding ways to beat down that obstacle. Which is good. It's good for the both of them. The walls they've built in front of each other need to break down, so a trust can grow between them.

"Yeah, and it was all for me," Bonnie says, guilty of all this. The feeling won't leave her, no matter what she does. She's only learned to accept it and try to right what's making her feel this way.

"Hey, it was his choice," Ross answers her, trying to make the guilt go away. "He didn't have to do it. He did it because he loves you!" The words wouldn't stop pouring out of Ross' mouth. He has a way of not shutting up sometimes. But when the words 'he loves you' left his mouth and entered Bonnie's, she considered the thought… then shook her head.

"Damon is incapable of loving anyone else besides Elena Gilbert," Bonnie tells him.

"Look at him, Bonnie!" says Ross. She looks at Damon too, feeling the doubt in Ross' voice. Her eyes soften and the corner of her lips turn up. Who would have thought? She's never been asked the question 'if there was one person you'd want to be stranded on an island with, who would it be?' But if she was asked, Damon would be the last person on her mind.

She found the idea possible. "Did he…" She swallows, her gaze still on Damon. "Tell you that?" As she asks him, a subtle half-smile comes upon her face. Ross shakes his head.

"No, but I'm pegging Damon as a guy who has trouble conveying those kinds of feelings, so he just throws them into his actions impulsively maybe." Ross shrugs. "I really don't know."

Bonnie nods.

"You can stay here as long as you like, Bonnie. You and your friends… You guys aren't from here, right?"

"Damon and I aren't."

"How about I work on finding a way for you guys to like get back home?" Bonnie's eyes shoot up at him. She thinks he's real nice for asking something like that.

"In your condition? You need rest, like Damon."

"No, I have these urges. And I have to find a way to fend them off. I'm looking for any kind of distraction."

She chuckles. "Well, I won't stop you," She says. He smiles and walks out of the room.

The door closes and a different aura rests in the room. It's almost like she's underwater with its comforting but dangerous volumes. It's like she's drowning but she feels alive. An odd parallel or a sinister alikeness, like a magnet she feels a pull to the shell lying next to her.

_Is he even in there?_ She asks herself. Her mind trying to dispel all negative nuances to make space for positive thoughts in a turbulence of calamity, a still of despair. She gasps, her body quakes and she scoots in closer to Damon. She's inclined to do so because of a sudden movement of his head. His head turns over, cracking in its move. His lips open a bit and close. And she decides to wait there until he wakes. Because she can feel it happening soon, and she wants to be there when he does. She wants to show him that she cares, that she is able to care for him despite their past. A guy like Damon would second guess a girl like Bonnie at least appreciating him, especially with their track record, and that sort of distrust is unneeded in these moments. Bonnie needs Damon and as her worried eyes cross over Damon, he needs her too.

Bonnie stands up off the bed and walks around to Damon's side. She looks at the cream colored blankets lying under him. She pulls the blanket from underneath him and lifts it over his body. She slides it up and over his legs, slowly and careful not to cause him any pain. She looks at his face, continuing to pull the covers over him. His head moves again and she hears a small whimper. Almost like a hum. Like he's having a bad dream. Or just a dream… She stops and tries to hear what he's saying, but nothing else follows. She pulls the rest of the blanket up to his neck and stands up.

"Damon… I am going to be here for you, whether you like it or not," She says in a steady, firm tone, using her hands to feel more determined. "I will always be here, from this point on to pick you up when you fall…" She tells him. She doesn't know it, but Damon can hear her. "I'll be back, I need to check on the others. Then I'll come back to check on you."

Bonnie walks out of the room and slowly closes the door, watching him through the slit.


	8. Lights Go Down

His brain is scattered. His vision unclear. And his intuition fading. Damon Salvatore cannot differentiate between reality and imagination. They keep mending and molding themselves, trying to become one, and ultimately fooling Damon. One of his eyes is not functioning properly, leaving more to be indistinct. He can feel the healing process doing its job. It's slow, but it's happening. He's healing but at a rate he hasn't felt in a long time. It's as if there's a part of him being reborn… Though, he's still a vampire. But something is different inside of him and it's having an effect on his life overall. It's an obstacle in his thinking— making it radical and unforgiving. His intuitiveness is unbalanced— he can't separate the real from the fake. And his faith is being shattered.

_Will I ever see home again?_ One of the thoughts running rampant through his mind. That doesn't stop Damon from trumping trial after trial after tribulation after tribulation and moving forward in pursuit of his being, of his soul. He's feeling his way through his mind, paving a curvy path to resurrection, because now it's only him and his thoughts. Whether they are good or bad doesn't matter, the only thing that matters is he conquers them. And as he twists and turns out of Bonnie's grasps, the pain flowing from his hands up his arms and he convulses in agony in front of Arabess' empty eyes, and as he feels a twinge in his chest Ross looks on like a lost puppy; he can overcome this. He will fight through this and he will defeat the pain throbbing throughout his body because he can feel it. And if he can feel this pain, he knows he's more alive than he will ever be.

Through his blurred vision, he can see Bonnie panicking over him. She's looking him right in the eyes saying: "I'm here, I'm here… You'll be okay!" Her voice an echo. He watches her bite her bottom lip and look up. Poof— she vanishes like a smoke bomb. So do the other objects around him until the room is empty. Just him and the bed he's in. The lights go down around him. His thoughts calm to a whisper. He's still suffering in his bones but the ambience shifts. He hears something being fried on a stove. His eyes close for a minute, basking in the alluring mood. He opens his eyes and he's back in the room, but the look and atmosphere of it is different. The wind blew in from the balcony window, lifting the red, silk drapes. They flow into the air, wavy like a flag. Damon sits up and feels his face. It's smooth. He looks at his hands and they're scar free. No more burns or bruises.

"This can't be," He says, standing up and looking around at the unrealistic color of it all. There is this blue hue in the air, representing a dream of some sort. The door swings open and it's Elena. Damon's face drops into uncertainty, his eyebrows furrowed. She walks in wearing a long T-shirt and holding a tray with a bowl of blood and a cup of blood. She smiles, shimmying her shoulders.

"Hi Damon!" She says, walking over to the bed and sitting the tray on it. She smiles at Damon again, trying to make him feel comfortable. But his mouth is still open in surprise. She hops on the bed, standing on her knees laughing uncontrollably. She bites her lip in an attempt to allure Damon. He looks around the room, still looking to gain a grasp of what's going on.

"Elena?" He asks her. "What're you doing here?"

Elena turns her head in disbelief. "What do you mean?" She hops off the bed and picks up the tray. "I brought you some food!" She puts the tray back on the bed and picks up the cup, circling around the bed and hands him the drink. "Here."

He's hesitant to take it. He doesn't know where he is, but for some reason his mind feels its going in the right direction. And he knows for sure, none of this is real. But the blood inside of it smelled so good and familiar. Like something's he got a sample of, but not a drink. He sucks the sweet smell into his nostrils and lets it seep into his body. He smiles a bit and takes the drink, chugging it down.

_Thank Goooodddd, _Damon thinks. As he swallows the drink and removes his lips from the cup, he looks up into Elena's eyes in disgust. He throws the cup at the wall and she jumps, putting up her arms up in defense. He starts to yell at her but he stops. He tells himself this isn't real. It's not real and it's some kind of test. A test of what? He doesn't know. He's not even positive it's a test, but it seems like a logical explanation while he's stuck in this imaginative reality.

"Are you okay, Damon? Did I do something?" Damon shakes his head and sits on the bed. She sits next to him, urgently, sitting on her leg. Damon lifts his chin up as he feels Elena's eyes burn into his face. "Damon. Damon, you lied to me," Her voice collapses into a sob. Her fingers cover her mouth as she tries to contain her sadness. Damon turns and looks at her, feeling responsible. He stands up and walks towards the door.

"Damon!" Elena yells. He stops in his tracks, infuriated, not at Elena but whoever this imposter is playing with his mind.

"You're not REAL!" He barks at her, his eyes wide. He turns back around and heads for the door, Elena tries to stop him. He opens the door and is in awe.

Bonnie takes some time to catch her breath after Damon had a seizure in front of her. She leans over his unmoving body, sitting next to him. She thought about what could have caused it. Is the vervain still in his system? Likely so. The ocean is poisoned with it. And he drowned in it, deeply. That is plausible. It could also be her blood. Is he rejecting it? The thought of that scares Bonnie to her core. She could be the only healthy food source for Damon, if she is willing to become that, in which she is. If her blood is no good to him, that would create a bigger problem. That is highly unlikely, but it's good to consider and exhaust every possible bump in the road.

No one the room has a clue what just hit Damon.

"Maybe he was having a bad dream," Ross suggests. He's happy that Damon's resting now. And stable. "At least the seizure means he's alive," Ross says jokingly. Bonnie commits to a fake laugh, but Ross can see she's still worried.

Arabess sits in a chair across from Damon, folding her hands in her lap. She watched it happen with zero emotion.

"Thanks for letting me know about everything," Bonnie says to him. She was out trying to get some fresh water from the lake she'd found earlier, when Ross came and got her to let her know Damon was shaking uncontrollably. "But, I need to get that water and… do a lot more things." Ross nods, a smile on his face. He places a hand on Bonnie's, sitting across from her.

"Bonnie… we need rest, yes. But you, hustler, you need rest too," Ross says to her. He could see the bags under her eyes becoming swollen. Bonnie drops her head, shaking it with a slight smile.

"No, I…" She averts her eyes at Arabess then back. "Too many obligations, you know?"

Ross smiles, his lips tight. "Well, I'll stay with Damon— Actually, I'll be happy to sleep right next to him!" He smiles, nervously and ends up looking like a lunatic. His tiredness is getting to him. As his vampire abilities decline, so does he. He's been a survivor, what's a few more days or weeks going to hurt?

Bonnie chuckles. She walks towards the door, waving goodbye to Arabess. She enters the hallway and the mood still feels so muggy. The air so crowded and suffocating. She walks out of the cabin and breathes in the fresh, green air. Looking to her left, she sees Luca sharpening stakes. Her brow furrows.

"Luca!" She yells to him.

"Yeah!" He yells back in a tone of bore and nuisance. She walks to him.

"What're you doing?" Bonnie asks, staring at the piles of stakes. This is what had Luca so busy he couldn't see what happened to Damon?

"We're living in a cabin with two hungry vampires, Bonnie!" He screams at her. The anger is a surprise to Bonnie. She didn't know he was so livid of this situation. He scrapes the rock against the stick in fierce movements, his face coiled up in madness.

"You don't think I know that?" She says, trying to keep a calm demeanor. Luca is a ticking-time bomb and she wished she'd seen it sooner, but she's been ignoring him… focused on Damon. And rightfully so, there is only one kid here that needs to be watched. Not two.

"I really don't. I don't think you know anything in that thick head of yours!" Luca says to her. That last line stuck to Bonnie, but that wasn't the last hurtful thing on his mind. Luca is venting. He is venting all of his anger and frustration and animosity about Bonnie to Bonnie.

"You done?" Bonnie asks him, pursing her lips. She watches his chest heave in and out. He throws the stake and rock down beside him.

"With what?" He says to her face, then mugs her. She doesn't move her gaze until he does. He walks off into the forest and Bonnie follows, trying to understand just what crawled under his skin.

"What the hell, Luca?!" She says slamming her hand down in the air. "I don't get it. You can talk to me!"

He searches the ground for more sticks. "I need something larger than that," He says to himself.

"Luca I am talking to you!" She says, getting in his face. He tries to look around her but she doesn't let him. "You cannot go in there with those stakes… You're right, he's a vampire. We don't know what he'll do if he sees those."

"If I'm right, why don't we leave?" Luca asks her. She can see his temper calmed a bit, but it's still there.

"Because Damon—"

Luca interrupts her. His hate fueled again. "Forget DAMON! He's useless at this point. Dead weight— they all are."

Bonnie looks at him in disgust. She looks down and turns, about to say something. Then she just walks away, holding her hands up and shaking her head. Luca looks up and his mouth tightens. He picks up a stick and throws it at a tree.

Bonnie squeezes all of the water out of her grey pants. She throws them next to her pile of wet, washed clothes which consisted of her grey shirt, and a bra and panties. She walks her naked body over to a bucket. She pulls the clothes out of the bucket, they were some of Ross'. He has some stashed in his drawers, not much though. Thankfully, he has some feminine clothes Bonnie could wear. She slipped on some blue jean shorts and a white crop tank top. In the middle of the shirt is a rainbow with Jesus on top of it shrugging. Bonnie looks down at the shirt, chuckling.

She picks up the bucket and sinks it under the water, filling it up. As she's filling the bucket up, the panther cub crawls on that lengthy tree and examines Bonnie in a freakishly way. She feels a presence near her and her eyes look up. She stands up and turns around, breathing hard. Nothing is there. The panther cub disappeared before she could see it.

Bonnie picks up the bucket and heads back to the cabin. When she gets there, she sees a fire burning in front of Luca. He looks up, sees her, and marches towards her.

"Thanks, Luca," She says in a calm voice, showing him gratitude.

"You better hope we don't die!" He says storming passed her and into the house.

"We won't die," She says back to him, playfully. She walks into the cabin and almost runs into Luca. He's staring at Ross, who's on the sofa looking like he's asleep… or… Bonnie sits the bucket on the ground and walks over to Ross, glaring back at Luca.

"You know what?" Luca turns around and storms out of the cabin, slamming the door. Ross jumps out of his sleep, startled. Bonnie holds her chest and exhales.

"Oh my god, Ross, I thought you were…" says Bonnie in a terrifying undertone. Ross looks down, right when Bonnie almost finished her sentence. She walks back to the bucket of water and picks it up, looking a bit tense. "Do you have any rags?"

"Yeah, sure, in the back cupboard," Ross tells her quickly. "And Bonnie… I'm already dead because you are KILLING that fit I gave you! I wore it like a hundred times before and I've never seen it look so amazing. Thank you for giving it life!"

Bonnie looks down at the outfit. "You're welcome. It is cute. And the shirt's funny." She chuckles. "Okay, I'm going to check on Damon."

He takes a deep breath as she leaves the room, all smiles. He bends his head back and closes his eyes, his dry lips pull apart.

Bonnie sinks a rag into the bucket of water sitting on the nightstand. She takes a look at Damon and she notices some changes. Though his face is drastically different because of the burns and scars, he's healing. He's fighting it. And that makes Bonnie feel better as she places the damp rag on his forehead.

She picks the rag up and lightly drags it down the side of his face. Dead skin peeling off revealing his tan face and sharp jaw line. She pushes the skin off onto the floor and then looks back at Damon, her eyes interested, captivated. Unshaken, unafraid, and open. The rag goes across his chin and up the side of his cheek. That's where the redness is more prevalent, his right cheek. It's healing, but not as fast as she'd want. Bonnie dips the rag into the water and Damon turns his face straight. She dabs around his right eye; the upper lid still protruding, red and charred, over his actual eye ball. She takes the rag up to his head, which is more healed than not. The vervain burned all of his hair off.

Bonnie exhales and wipes the rag slowly over his scalp. She can see his hair trying to grow back, kind of like a stubble. She puts the rag in the bucket and looks at his neck, a grainy looking red all around with yellowish blisters on his left side. She reaches to touch his neck, but her fingers hover over his skin, melancholy.

"That lake is special, huh?" Ross says, standing in the doorway. Bonnie pulls away from Damon and exhales. "It's vervain-free." He chuckles, then starts coughing. It takes over his laugh and he's bending over holding his chest. The cough jerks him towards the ground. He inhales, tasting the iron-like saliva in his mouth. He lifts his head to see Bonnie staring at him.

"I'm okay," Ross says, struggling to catch his breath, to Bonnie. She looks on at Ross. A heavy, morose sensation warming her body.

Ross sees her grief-filled eyes and runs off. He runs out of the cabin and trips on a small stump. His face smashes into the ground hard, unable to harness energy to protect his face. That scared him. The land of the Forgotten is completely taking control of him. He stares in the distance, the side of his face moistens as it moves against the cold ground. He's so tired. He just wants to rest and wake up rejuvenated, but it only gets worse. It's as if the more he fights for control, the less control he gets.

He presses his palms into the ground and pushes off, picking himself up.

Death—the only thing Ross knows is true, floated through his mind. It's the only thing certain, the only thing promised, and there's no escaping it. No matter how many times a person evades it, or finds a loophole… death always catches them. Ross hadn't even reached the finish line yet. A buttery, tickling sensation runs through his bones and he passes out, falling back onto the ground.

Behind him, standing in front of the house, is Arabess. She witnesses Ross fall to his knees, struggle to gain a step ahead in survival, and fall onto his face in failure. Her mouth is open and her leg moves forward without her knowing. Her other leg takes a step and before she realizes it, she's walking to Ross. She stops in front of his body and bends down.

She licks her lips, contains her breathing, and puts on a face of determination. A face with emotion. A look different from what she's worn the past couple days. She stands up and runs into the forest, stopping suddenly. She frantically looks for an object. A stick. A rock. Something that'll break into her innocent skin.

She's watched Damon. She's watched Bonnie. A feeling of urgency trembles through her body and she looks back at Ross, a single trail of blood leaking out of his mouth. She looks around again, finding a small rock on the ground. Her detailed eyes watched as Damon's face changed in small improvements. It healed, not greatly and all at once, but in a slow and gradual time. And what made that happen had to be Bonnie's blood. At least she thinks.

Arabess pushes on Ross' body, trying to roll him over. He barely moves. She tries again and his body doesn't budge. Then she starts to rock him, desperation in her face. He finally turns over as she gets momentum and she places her arm over his mouth. Her hands begin to tremble.

They shake without warning and Arabess is consumed by fear. She wants to help; she feels she has too. The rock jiggles in her tiny hand, and as she tries to cut her wrist, nothing happens. She tries it again and again, but she can't do it. She closes her eyes, holding the rock steady, opens them and takes the rock across her wrist again, hard. She yelps as blood drops on Ross' face, and covers her mouth, crawling back.

"Arabess!" Bonnie sprints out of the cabin, stopping in front of Ross' body. She sees the blood on his lips and looks at Arabess, whose eyes fill with water as she clutches her wrist and holds it close to her mouth. "What're you doing? You don't do that!" Bonnie yells at her.

Arabess stands up, shaking in fear. Her eyes tighten as blood drips down her arm and tears squeeze out of her eyes.

"You could have gotten yourself killed!" Bonnie says to her. Arabess runs into the cabin and Bonnie sighs. She looks back at Ross, who starts to taste the blood. He groans. Bonnie leans her back against a tree. Ross flashes in front of her face, smelling her blood. He restrains himself by sprinting away, latching onto a tree.

"I'm sorry!" He tells her. Bonnie just nods. "What happened?" He asks her. Bonnie looks at him wearily. There's a brief pause between the two before Bonnie speaks, a moment where Ross knows Bonnie is losing trust in him.

"It's Arabess. She fed you her blood…" Bonnie tells him, staring at him in a suspiciously glaring way.

"What?!" Ross says, spitting out the saliva in his mouth, trying to get rid of the taste of a little girl. "I ate a little girl?"

"It's not your fault, she just… I guess she watched me or… ugh. I just feel so stupid." Bonnie ends up saying to herself. She paces around, looking at the cabin and thinking about Arabess. It was the first time the little girl showed emotion in so long… and Bonnie couldn't set aside her protection of her for one second, to let the girl finally feel what she needs to feel. Bottling it all in isn't healthy, because the end result is an emotional explosion bound to cause casualties.

Arabess runs into Damon's room and shuts the door behind her. She walks over to the side of Damon, her head down. Wiping the tears from her face, she looks up at him. Her face falls back into her comfort zone. She turns around and sits in a chair, staring at Damon.

Bonnie walks in and sees Arabess. The girl doesn't move a muscle.

"Arabess…" Bonnie says in a soft voice. She walks up to her and kneels. She sees the cut on her wrist still bleeding and grabs her shirt, ripping off a piece of the fabric. She grabs Arabess' wrist and ties it around her wrist. "Don't move that, okay?"

Arabess doesn't answer, but Bonnie waits. For a nod, a hum, something… but Arabess doesn't say or do anything. She just sits there and Bonnie rolls her eyes. She stands up and walks towards the door, stopping.

"Don't let him out of your sight, okay?" Bonnie says, walking out of the room and shutting the door.

The crescent moon reflects beautifully off of Bonnie's eyes. She stares through the window. The moon brought a calmness into Bonnie. She loves watching it. The majestic runner up to the sun— bright and glorious and a friend to the supernatural kind. Or just a friend to the misplaced. The people who don't really know where they fit, or where they belong— the moon is a reflection of those people. Because it's usually too late when people start to notice the attraction the moon has, it's comforting and kind enticement. Better yet, it's rare when someone else does see their light.

Bonnie steps away from the window and Luca busts into the cabin, scaring everyone in the living room, which is her and Ross. He awakes Ross from his slumber, glaring at him as he walks up to Bonnie.

"Where the hell have you been?" Bonnie asks.

"I just left— you clearly don't want me here," Luca says to her.

"Get over yourself, Luca. I NEED you. I need anyone who's willing to be on my side," Bonnie tells him. It's been crazy, ever since she's arrived here. It's a blessing to find people willing to stand alongside her in these hard times.

Luca's head drops. His innate loathing of vampires is something that just won't fade away. He gets a kick out of imagining drowning Ross in the sea or cutting off Damon's fingers while the sun is bright and the only star in the sky. It's a distraction. It's like his hunger— something to feed on for the time being, until they find something real. Because they all need distractions to keep their minds from imploding. It used to be him and his cookbook, lost in his own little world, but that's not the case anymore.

"Bonnie, I'll quit my childish antics as long as you keep me far away from him!" Luca yells, pointing at Ross. Ross looks over, an indistinct look in his tired eyes. He doesn't say anything either because he doesn't want to entertain Ross or because he doesn't have the energy.

Bonnie grabs Luca and pulls him outside, closing the door behind her.

"You cannot keep…" Bonnie begins to say, until she looks over his shoulder, seeing a blue light stretching over the horizon in between the trees. She moves past Luca, drawn in. Luca turns around, confused and sees the light too. He's hypnotized by the blue light's vastness. Sparkles jump up and down on top of the light like popcorn.

"Do you see that?" Bonnie says to him. They both walk towards the light, stepping over bushes, uprooted trees, and stumps. Their eyes never leave the blue lights presence. They watch it glimmer and sparkle and pull them in with fascination. The noises of crickets and birds cease to exist in their existence.

"Yeah," Luca says, his mouth wide open. "I saw it earlier…"

Bonnie grabs his arm. They both stop. Suddenly, nature's creatures come alive around them. The trance they were in long gone.

"What just happen?" Bonnie asks, looking around in the darkness. Her eyes are accustomed to the darkness, something that happened some time when she was here. She can see almost everything clearly.

She sees Luca point at a blue light. "It's that. We were in some trance… it's capable of that," Luca tells her. She looks and sees the blue light.

"Should we investigate?" She asks, a little weary and a bit drawn to the light. It's a minuscule feeling erupting in her bones, Luca's bones too, that she just can't get a grasp on.

"I already did," He says trudging forward. "That's why I came back, Bonnie I found food."

Bonnie's face lights up and she smiles. "Really?" She starts to follow him.

"Don't get too excited… it's not much. But I definitely found it on top of that hill." Luca points at the blue light again. They walk out of the forest and see the blue light hovering on top of a hill.

Bonnie starts walking forward, Luca following closely behind. The hill goes up on a small incline, a slow and gradual one. The two would have to lift their knees to march up the hill, taking some energy, but Bonnie thinks her and Luca can make it, especially if Luca's willing to give it another go.

"It's kind of difficult getting up there," He says.

"Difficult how?" replies Bonnie. Luca smirks at her.

"You'll see."

They come upon a small tree that grew diagonally, because of the incline.

"Grab onto that," Bonnie grabs onto the tree with one hand, and pulls herself. Luca does the same, wiping his hands together to remove all of the dust.

"Woo!" Bonnie says, catching her breath. She feels a little lightheaded and stops, putting her hand in front of Luca. Her eyes close and her head turns.

"You okay? Need to take a break?" Luca asks her, the most caring he's been in a while. In retrospect, it isn't too long, but it feels that way. The two days they've spent out here together have felt like light years, considering everything they've been through in the short time. Bonnie seeing Luca show some compassion towards her kind of makes her happy.

"I just…" She says without looking at him, shameful that she's already giving up. There's nothing she can do. Her body just won't give. "I don't want to pass out or anything." She tells him, shaking her head. Luca helps her sit down, and this time, she lets him. They sit on the side of the hill, and look into the dark, paradisal-looking forest together. It's like sitting on a cliff, and looking out into a city, without the lights of course.

Bonnie lays back and shuts her eyes a minute. _Midnight._ She thinks to herself. It has to be.

Luca shifts his head to Bonnie, watching her try to find peace. Then he looks back out into the distance and sighs. His head drops.

"I'm sorry, Bonnie…" He says to her, shifting the mood into this mellow, tranquil absolution. He slowly turns his head to her. Her eyes pop open.

The fire in her eyes dies as she calms herself. "You should be," She says looking up into the sky at the spotty stars. "You were acting like an ass."

"I think I was acting rationally," his voice calm and steady, he averts his eyes as he tells her. Bonnie closes her eyes again.

She doesn't say a word for a while. A silence creeps in between them, engulfing them. Luca turns around and sees if the blue light's radiance had gone. It's still there. She sits up and exhales.

"Why did we come out here again?" Bonnie says, her eyes narrowed.

"The blue light. I told you I found food." Luca replies. Bonnie nods, remembering. She licks her lips thinking about eating something, anything. The more she thinks about food, the hungrier she gets and the more twisted her stomach feels. It's been aching all day, all night. She doesn't let on about it though. What's the point?

Luca is feeling the same way. His hunger subsided a little due to him eating some of the edibles he found atop that hill.

"Rationale? That's a weird word to use don't you think?" Bonnie asks him. She didn't forget what he said and she wasn't going to let him. And she definitely wasn't going to let this conversation go unnoticed or without a conclusion. Because it definitely needed it.

"I disagree," He replies. Bonnie turns to face him.

"Look around, Luca? Rationality? Not a reality anymore. The lines are a bit more blurred than that now."

Luca sees her point. He runs his fingers over the grass. "But they're vampires… vampires killed me. And corrupted my sister."

"Your sister had a choice, Luca. They didn't force her," Bonnie says to him. He looks lost, like he doesn't know anything anymore. Like he never did. "People, vampires, whatever will do things on their own volition. Ross could've attacked you, but he wants to be good, so he didn't. Damon could have, but… well, he's not here right now, still. He wouldn't try anything."

Luca looks at her in disbelief. "Because he'll listen to you?"

"Yes," she says. Luca busts out laughing. Bonnie feels uncomfortable and kind of offended. "Okay," she says. He keeps laughing. He falls on his back, chuckling. "It is not that funny."

"No, it is, I just needed that laugh…" He holds his chest, calming himself. Bonnie shakes her head, looking straight ahead.

"I am done with you," She says with a smile.

"It's just… YOU and Damon Salvatore? Last time I was alive, you were betrothed with Jeremy," Luca says.

"Betrothed? Do not say that ever again," Bonnie tells him. He scoffs with a smile.

"I'm so serious though. What happen with you and Jeremy?" Bonnie looks at him stunned, her head shifting back.

"Okay, enough of this." She stands up and starts walking up the hill, but collapses. A dizziness overcomes her and Luca runs to pick her up.

"Hey, you got up too fast," Luca says, holding onto her waist. She tries standing up and Luca helps her. She gets too her feet and takes a deep breath. Luca, realizing he's still holding onto her waist removes his hands quickly. "Are you sure you can go?" He asks her, a conclusiveness in his tone.

"Yes," she says turning her head. "If there's a little something for us to eat to get us by… a burger or something," They both laugh together at the ridiculous thought, "Then, I need to get up there."

"Why don't I just go then?" Luca asks her, seeing the pain springing from her body that she's been attempting to hide. She sighs and puts a hand on his shoulder.

"You shouldn't do this alone. Especially not in the dark," She tells him. His lips tighten into an understanding smile. He stretches out his arm, leading the way. Bonnie starts walking up the hill and Luca follows closely behind her, just in case she falls.

They come upon a long, rocky wall, ingrown into the hill. Bonnie puts her hands on her hips and sighs, frustrated.

"Great. How the hell am I supposed to get up there, in my condition?" Bonnie asks, extremely terrified. She doesn't know what, but she has this feeling inside of her. She wants to be the one to get the food, to get whatever will prolong their survival. Is it a way for her to get Arabess to start speaking to her again, or for Damon to wake up and not antagonize and tease her for not accomplishing much while he was out. She doesn't know what's making her do these risky things— her Grams memorable quote? Her devotion to getting home? It could be many things. Bonnie just hasn't had the time to decide what, she just knows she has to do it.

"I'll help you," Luca says. Luca stares into Bonnie's eyes. She walks up to him and accepts his help.

"Okay," She clears her throat and approaches the wall. It's climbable, but it'll take a lot of strength that Bonnie's not sure she can muster up.

"You ready?" Luca asks her, standing behind her.

"Are you?" She says with a determined face. Luca nods and firmly places his rough hands on Bonnie's waist. Bonnie felt his grasp and feels a bit uncomfortable. She doesn't tell him though, she just bends her knees in ready position.

"Ready?" He says. He lifts her off the ground and she grabs onto a ledge.

"I got it," She tells him, breathing fast. She tries lifting herself and struggles. Her muscles feel flimsy, like they'll fall off at any second. Then she feels a boost. Luca pushes on her feet and she throws her body onto the rock, and shimmy's herself onto it. She rolls onto her back and tries to catch her breath, taking slow and deep breaths.

Suddenly, she feels Luca's hands on her waist, but he's nowhere around. It was uncomfortable for her, but not because she didn't like it… it's just been so long since she's been touched like that. So softly, but leaving a lasting presence. It feels good to feel. She presses her hand onto her waist. She half-smiles. Luca groans, rolling onto the surface next to her.

"How you doing?" Luca asks.

"I'm good, I just…" She stops, trying to get more air. "You know what, no." She pulls herself up slowly, having sense not to catch the annoying effect of vertigo again. When she's on her feet, she grabs onto the rock and starts climbing up. An adrenaline taking over.

"You okay, Bonnie?" He asks, watching her. He smiles and bites his lip, looking down. He rubs his hand through his shaved head as he thinks about it… Bonnie's hips in his grasp.

She doesn't answer him. She can't, really. She has to save that energy for this climb. She reaches up and grabs. And again. And again, but this time the reach was far, knocking the everlasting wind out of her. Luca hears her moan and fight for breath. He jumps up, climbing the rock.

"Bonnie!" He says, climbing. He finally gets next to her. He looks at her. "Bonnie."

"Yeah," She says pursing her lips, her face immersed in misery. She stares at the rocky wall in front of her face. He wraps his arm around her stomach. She feels a sudden relief.

"If you can't go—"

She cuts him off, glaring at him. "I can go. I can do this, Luca." She removes his arm from around her. Luca swallows, looking below. The drop is pretty far for them, if either of them were to slip or let go… splat.

_Breathe…_ Bonnie thinks to herself. She closes her eyes to help calm her breathing, then she reaches and grabs, pulling herself up. Her muscles are sore and worked, but she goes.

She finally pulls herself up onto the top of the hill. She lies there, staring at it. The grass has blue tips, with little blue orbs shooting out of them, creating the light they saw from a mile away. Luca hops onto the hill, tired as ever. They both stare at the lights, floating and flying whichever way.

Luca walks into the grass and spreads his arms wide, the orbs attach to his skin and sink into it. Bonnie looks at him in amazement. She stands up and walks into the grass also, a euphoric feeling flows through her body. It sends a kindling chill from her toes up to her chest. She loses her breath, but not because she's tired but because she feels so elated. Her arms spread out and her head hangs back, she chuckles. She starts spinning in a circle, stepping in place. Her eyes lock with Luca and they move closer to each other.

Luca's bottom lip hangs out as he stares at Bonnie, walking towards her. Bonnie knows what these orbs are doing, and looks at them all over Luca's body as he closes the gap to her. Her bottom lip twitches as she raises her chin. Her lips pull apart. Luca reaches up to place his hand on Bonnie's cheek, but she slaps it away and backs up.

"What was that?" She says, knocking herself from the trance. Luca smiles and laughs, spinning in a circle.

"Did you feel that?" He asks her. "That was the most I've felt since earth."

"You knew about this?" Bonnie accuses him.

"I told you, I did!"

"No! About this…" The silent undertone in her voice told Luca all he needed to know. Their close encounter. The seductive tension magnetizing between them. Luca walks up to her.

"That wasn't me," She looks away, angry. He reaches for her, "I'm—" When he touches her, a black bubble forms between them and explodes, yellow lines appearing in the air. Bonnie and Luca fly back, rolling onto the ground.

"What the hell?" Bonnie says, standing up. She moans and clutches her chest, realizing what just happened. She looks up and sees Luca putting his hand in the air, a black bubble forms before it and then it pops, leaving behind yellow sparks. She sees a smile come over his face.

Bonnie inhales and lifts her hands up, a coldness arises into her bones from her feet all the way up to her head. The palm of her hands shake once as black bubbles form in them. She smiles, the bubbles growing larger and more transparent.

"Luca!" She says in a gasp. "I got my powers back!" The bubbles burst and she flies back in the air, landing on her feet and hands in a three stance position. She looks up, dramatically, feeling more powerful and stronger than ever.

"Mine too!" He smiles, menacingly and lifts his arms. A fire arises around him, but quickly goes out. He tries it again and the same thing happens. Bonnie raises her arms, but nothing happens. She can feel the magic coursing through her bones but… nothing.

"Maybe it's because you died? Same thing's happening to me," Luca says walking towards her.

Bonnie shrugs. She sighs, angrily.

"We just need to train more," He suggests. Bonnie smiles, tears coming to her eyes. She tries to stop them from falling by immediately wiping her eyes.

"But did you see that?" Bonnie says excitedly. "How I landed like that? How did I do that?"

"I think magic works differently here. Witches do."

"Okay, the food and then we can go," She says as Luca meets her. Luca gestures for her to follow and they walk to the other side of the hill. A small bush of green kale-like leaves are planted before them. Bonnie looks at them, quizzical.

"Plants?" She asks, wondering how that, if anything, will keep them sustained. He reaches down and picks it up.

"It's like a mustard green, or at least it tastes that way. Try it," Luca rips off a piece and hands it to her. Bonnie eats it, slowly chewing it, trying to work out the taste. She swallows, but has a disgusted look on her face.

"It does taste like mustard." She tries, wishing she could take back the taste. "You sure this can last us a while?"

"Not a long time, but we need to find something else… and quickly."

They both turn around and look at the orbs flying around them. Bonnie feels as if she's been here before. She bends down and touches the tips of the grass, blue dye rubbing onto her fingertips. Luca lies down in the grass and its cold, refreshing tips tickle his body. Bonnie rubs her fingers together and an image pops in her head. It's her. And Damon. And it goes:

"I don't know!" Bonnie yells. She wore Damon's jacket tightly around her, and sometimes, it was like he was hugging her. She didn't know whether to feel good, or… to feel anything at all. The two stood a couple feet from each other. Damon stares at Bonnie's lonely backside.

"This is some bullshit, you know?" Damon tells her, staring attentively. Bonnie hears him, but all she can think about is home. Damon sees her, but all he can discern is home. The thought drew an invisible line between them, a peculiar attraction… though they didn't know. As intelligent and instinctive as Damon is and as independent and wise as Bonnie can be— not one of them, in this moment, thought of how profoundly linked they are.

Bonnie looks at Luca, Damon passing through her mind. She remembers when that happened… after they first arrived. They took the anger fueled from their arrival and they threw it at each other.

"This place… it's like a witches' playground," Luca says, rolling around in the grass. Bonnie leaves the realm of the past and scans the colorful area.

"A witches' playground? I doubt that. Every time we tried to use our powers it wouldn't work."

"Well, that's just because we need to train… together," Luca says, standing up. He smiles at her, his lips stretched across his face lazily.

Grrr.

Bonnie cocks her head down. Her eyes narrow.

"What?" Luca whispers to her. She puts her finger up to her mouth, signaling him to be silent. She hears the growl again and turns around slowly. Luca looks past her and sees the panther cub, his chin rises in fear.

"Run." Bonnie tells him. He hesitates. "Run!" She says sprinting past him and pulling him along. The panther cub chases after them. Bonnie and Luca see the hill beginning to decline. The cub gains on them. Luca looks back and sees the cub getting closer. It jumps at Bonnie, but Luca pulls her down. The cub flies over them, landing on the hill and tumbling. Bonnie and Luca roll down the hill too.

They stop near the bottom, a few feet away from the cub. Bonnie, exhausted and barely breathing, pushes off her knees to stand up. The cub is on all fours at the same time and they lock eyes. The cub growls at Bonnie, and she walks towards it.

"Bonnie!" Luca says, grabbing her hand. She watches the cub as it begins to circle them. Luca let's go of Bonnie and she marches at the cub. She stands in front of it, holding her palm out. The cub growls and growls at her but she stands there fearless. Bold. She can see the cub is just scared. Just like her. Afraid, alone… just like Ross, Arabess, and Luca… Her knees fall to the ground, her fingers inches away from the cub's mouth.

Luca watches in astonishment, it slowly changing into a smirk.

The cub lifts its paw up and sits it in Bonnie's hand. She nods and it runs off into the darkness. Luca walks up behind her and rubs her shoulder. She rolls her shoulder back, and Luca removes his hand.

After that long night, Bonnie sat with Damon all night. She let Arabess have the rest of the kale. Bonnie can hang on another day without it. While she rubbed the warm rag over his face, he's somewhere lost in his mind, searching for a way back…

"Damon!" Elena yells. He stops in his tracks, infuriated, not at Elena but whoever this imposter is playing with his mind.

"You're not REAL!" He barks at her, his eyes wide. He turns back around and heads for the door, Elena tries to stop him. He opens the door and is in awe.

His favorite season is the magnetic view before him. His mouth is agape and he's immediately pulled into the vast, white landscape and tall, innocuous pine trees. The light snow touches his healed face as he walks into the cold. He turns around. The door is gone. It's just more snow covering the ground and pine trees.

He walks up to a pine tree. Icicles hang from the trees branches and touches one. It breaks off and falls into the snow, landing half way in it. He looks ahead and sees a person in a white fur coat, wearing the hood. He walks to that person, trudging through the heavy, deep snow. He sees the person stand up and run across something slippery because they slide and fall onto the butts. Damon chuckles and continues walking.

He reaches to where the person was and sees it's a frozen lake. The person stands up in white fur coat and skinny jeans, and spins. As she spins, slowly lifting her head and a peaceful smile on her face, Damon works out who it is. Through those fast turns he sees Bonnie, her arms lifting up as she spins and spins and slows to a stop. She sees Damon and slides towards him, kicking snow up on his legs. He jumps out of the way and laughs.

"Hey!" He says looking Bonnie in the eyes. And for a minute, they exchange looks— just smiling in each other's presence until Bonnie grabs his hands and pulls him out into the lake.

"Nah." He says shaking his head.

"Oh come on. Have a little fun for a little while, Damon," She replies, releasing Damon from his decision not to. It didn't take much for her to pull him anymore, since he's more willing to be out there with her.

"I've never done this before!" Damon says nervously. He starts losing balance and she catches him.

"Never? In the hundred plus years you've lived young?" Bonnie says in complete doubt.

"No, sass-meister! I had a life!" He says back to her, playfully.

"Oh, good one. Okay, come on." Bonnie and Damon slide down the lake slowly. Damon hangs onto her shoulder for balance. She pushes him off and tries running away, but fails on the ice. Damon tries picking himself off the ground quickly, but continue to slip on the ice, laughing at himself.

"This is so pathetic!" Damon says, struggling to find his footing. Bonnie is sliding in a big circle a few feet away from Damon, laughing at him.

"Please, Damon. You are just upset you can't catch me!" When Bonnie says that, Damon comes sliding at her but she runs. Damon chases down the iced lake and catches her, wrapping his arms around her. They slide, and Bonnie grabs hold of Damon's arms, wrapped in front of her. They turn a circle in each other's grasp and Damon lets Bonnie go. He opens his arms suddenly, unbeknownst to Bonnie, and she reaches for his arms as she slides away from him.

"You are no fun, Damon." She says to him about ten yards away. She looks at him, removing her hood. He smiles seeing the white snow fall into her dark hair. He loves it.

He slides towards her and they fall onto the ground. Bonnie busts out laughing and Damon stares at her, weirdly. She notices and hits him.

"Don't look at me like that!" Bonnie says, a little offended. "I will end your life, Mr. Salvatore." She looks past him, fixated on something else. He watches her mouth grow big into a smile, and then into a look of surprise. She points. He turns his interested eyes around and sees a wolf. Its sniffing the snow a few feet away. They both stand up and gaze it.

"Do you see it, Damon?" Bonnie says soft and proud. He nods. "It's for you," She looks at him. He meets her sincere eyes and gracious look. He doesn't want to leave her gaze. She always wears this understanding and empathetic look, it just pulls a person in and makes them face their fears, or obstacles. It causes them to grow as a person and they know she'll be there along the way.

Damon takes another look at the wolf. The wolf stops what it's doing and looks towards Damon. He feels something, but doesn't acknowledge it.

"What's that like a werewolf or something?" Damon asks her. He can feel the connection to the wolf, but he doesn't want to act on these feelings. He's a vampire. He's not supposed to feel positive things about wolves, but he can't help it. Its black and white fur makes him gravitate towards it. He walks and walks until he's two feet away from the wolf.

Damon raises his chin and the docile wolf sits. He turns around and sees Bonnie is gone. Damon kneels in front of the wolf. He's not scared—he could rip that wolf in two the instant it tries to attack Damon. But he doesn't feel threatened. He feels this reassurance, this awareness. A deference emanates off of the wolf and Damon feeds into it. He wants to pet it. He reaches for the wolf and pets its head. The wolf rubs its head in Damon's hands, almost exalted. Damon stands up and the wolf stands beside him.

"You did it, Damon," Bonnie says from behind him. Damon turns around and she's not there.

_What does she mean?_ He thinks. The wolf runs off and Damon chases after it. It's fast, almost werewolf fast. Damon had a hard time keeping up. He catches the wolf and picks him up, ruffling his fur. He smiles.

"What should I name you?" He says to the wolf. The wolf springs out of his grasp. He runs away and Damon starts to follow until he sees where the wolf is going. It's not a lone wolf. It's in a pack. It has a family. The wolf stops before rejoining its pack and turns around. It howls at Damon, then runs off. Damon smirks.

"It's not a lone wolf, Damon." Bonnie says, appearing in front of him.

"So what?" Damon says.

"And you're not alone either…" Her voice echoes as a white light consumes everything around him. Damon wakes up and sees Bonnie wiping his forehead with a damp rag.

"Damon." Bonnie's eyes widen. He sits up, still aching, but happy he can move and see and experience again. He stands up and Bonnie takes a step back, his face still unshaken.

"Damon…" Bonnie says again, trying to talk to him. But he isn't responding. He's just walking towards, with these heavy, zombie-like steps. He's staring at her through his good eye, his eye wide. Bonnie hits the wall behind her. Damon gets closer and closer and then, in a quick and swift motion, he puts his hands on her waist, pulling her body into his. Damon's hands slowly gravitate to the center of her back and his embrace tightens. Bonnie's cheek buries into his chest and her arms enclose around his body. Her hands glide over his back muscles and stop just below his shoulders.


	9. Creeping In

"You're okay," Damon says to Bonnie, his lips parted slightly above her ear. Bonnie's head pulls away from his chest and her eyes look at the side of his face. Damon's gaze is casted upon the wall, his head angled to his left. His fixation manifests from a feeling deep inside of him he's struggling to keep from escaping.

"I've BEEN okay, Damon," She tells him just as the corners of her eyes narrow.

"What happened to me?" Damon's voice breaks through hesitant breaths. He bites his lip. He knows all what happened to him. He thought he died saving Bonnie— a formidable death. But between his blank mind and stunted healing period, he really doesn't know what to say. Just that he has to say something.

Bonnie swallows, her chin dropping down, then rising back up to see his face.

"Where are we?" Damon looks around, letting go of Bonnie. She feels the loss of Damon's grip around her waist unexpected. Her hand rises quickly, as if she wants to say something, then it falls as her head turns towards the window.

"Are we home?" He asks, his intense stare locked onto Bonnie. His mouth curls up just as his limbs feel jittery; the thought of being home makes his bones jump. Bonnie bites her nail, averting her eyes at Damon.

Her hand drops. "No," She head, her chin rising. The words struggle to come out of her mouth. "No, Damon. We're still lost."

Her head angles as she looks at Damon. "But we're going to be okay."

Damon nods at her. He takes a few slow steps back and sits on the bed.

"I'm still in so much pain," he says through his gritted teeth. Bonnie walks over to him and sits next to him. She takes a deep breath.

"Things work differently here," She says, turning her head to look at Damon's right leg bouncing up against hers. She looks at his face and sees his cheeks sink in, his Adam's apple moving as he swallowed. He stared at the wall ahead of him, and held his gaze until he could calm his fury. "My magic works differently…" Bonnie says to him trying to mask her excitement a bit.

Damon's leg stops bouncing. "You got your magic back?" He asks her.

"Yeah," She says rubbing her knee.

"Then you can find us a way home, right?"

"I'll try, but it won't be—"

"I know," Damon interrupts her, switching his gaze to her. "You don't have to say it because I know."

Damon felt the urge to show Bonnie gratitude. He believes she helped him survive this, and in the end brought him back to the living. He observes Bonnie, all outside disturbances hushed through his eardrums, and watches her hold out her left palm. Her eyes focus on her palm and her head tilts down, slowly and gently, as she demonstrates her newfound power. A fire ignites in her palm and she jumps back, smiling from cheek to cheek.

"Damon!" Bonnie says. Damon snaps out of his trance.

"What?" He replies. She closes her palm just as a constant worry falls over her face.

"You need blood." She says without hesitation. The words fall right out of her mouth, as if she's been dreading to say them. As if they've been floating through her mind just waiting for the right moment. And maybe it has. Deep down, maybe she's thought about how Damon'll need blood. How she would be the one to feed him. And how deeply conflicting the circumstances would be.

"I can last a liiiiittle bit longer," Damon says, trying to lighten the mood and alleviate his temper. Bonnie looks downward.

"No, you can't," replies Bonnie, looking back up at him. She smiled slightly then it quickly reverts to a frown. She gazes upon Damon's bland looks. She couldn't help but think that her blood might heal the redness still covering his right face.

Damon, hesitant, nods his head. "Okay," He says, biting his lip and shutting his eyes. "Alright, Bonnie. Just give me some time alone real fast."

Bonnie inhales through his teeth, her mouth agape. She agrees to leave and stands up. Damon's leg begins to bounce again. Bonnie walks out of the room and closes the door. She stands idly by, looking at the ridges in the wooden wall in front of her. Bonnie turns around to face the door—

BANG!

Damon's voice vibrated the walls outside of him. He yelled and screamed through the loud bangs within his walls. Bonnie jumped slightly after each bang, thud, and clank. The sounds were heard by Arabess in the living room, as she stared at the front door, reaching for the doorknob. Damon's outburst was so loud Ross stopped sprinting through the forest, stopping at a tree. He looks back, while his head hangs down in exhaustion. His anger was even felt by Luca who's practicing his magic at the Witches' Playground. Two grey black mambas circle him as he rises his hands and orbs fly around him. The orbs fall when he hears Damon.

Bonnie places a hand on the door when the sounds and screams stop. Damon approaches the door and presses his forehead against it, turning a bit. He can feel Bonnie's presence on the other side of the door. She wants to come in, to check on him and see if he's okay. And just feed him. Heal him. Damon doesn't want her to come in because he wouldn't be able to tell her not to. If she wants to feed him, he's not going to tell her no.

Damon squeezes his lips together and shuts his eyelids tight. His next few words slip out through his teeth: "You can come in now," He tells her and pushes off the door, walking to the other side the room.

Bonnie puts her hand on the knob and turns. She pushes the door open and it swings until it hits a dresser, on its side with three of the four drawers hanging out. Clothing falling out of it. Bonnie steps into the room and sees the other drawer, in the place where the bed is supposed to be.

"Damon, what is wrong?" She says, stepping closer to him, noticing the bed is split in two on opposite sides of the room. "Why did you ruin the bed?" She smacks her teeth and leans down on her hip. "Where are we going to sleep?"

He raises his arms up and shrugs. "I don't know," He turns around, "The floor looks kind of cozy."

"Damon, seriously, what is wrong?" She says. She holds her gaze onto him, forcing him to stare right back at her.

"Honestly? Everything, but we're not going to get into that…" He tells her. "Bonnie, I don't want to feed from you."

Bonnie furrows her brow at him. She looks up at the ceiling and shakes her head. "Grow. Up, Damon," She tells him with an undeniable irritated blow. Damon's eyes widen and he launches at her, his fangs and eyes changing to his vampiric nature. Bonnie steps back and throws her arm out in front of her and grunts, sending Damon back into a wall.

"Did you forget, Damon? I got my powers back." She says as he rolls across the ground. "I didn't want to do that, Damon, I can see you're—"

"Then why did you?" He interrupts her, rolling onto his back. "I was just doing what you asked."

"In a very childish manner!" Bonnie snaps back.

Damon doesn't say anything back. He lies there, staring at the ceiling. Bonnie sits down next to him, even though she is so hesitant to do so.

"You will drink my blood, Damon, and you WILL do it my way," Damon averts his eyes to Bonnie then rolls them away.

"You think just because you got your powers back… you can be all demanding and bossy?" He lifts his head off the ground, glaring at Bonnie. "You're probably just as novice as the time I first took a taste out of you!"

Bonnie puts her wrist out in front of Damon's mouth. "Like I said, my way or the high way," Bonnie says to him. She pushes her wrist into Damon's mouth, the inner side of his cold lips masking the sting of his fangs sinking into her wrist. Damon closes his eyes as the blood leaves her wrist and flows into his mouth.

"Okay, that's enough!" Damon says, pushing her hand away. Bonnie covers her wound up and Damon wipes the blood from around his mouth, sitting up.

"I just didn't know if I could stop," He says to her, staring at the floor.

"Well, I did," Bonnie says, "And all it takes is a little each day… until we find our way home or figure something else out."

"I don't think you know how good you taste," He says. He peers down at her wound and smirks. "My turn." He bites his wrist and holds it in front of her.

"This is so weird." Bonnie places her warm lips around his wrist, sending a cold chill up Damon's arm.

"How is this weird?" He asks her. She looks down at her wrist and sees it healing. She pulls away from Damon's arm.

"It just feels weird." She shrugs and stands up. Damon looks up at her, dragging himself up from the floor and standing, grumpy and wobbly-like.

"Where are you going?" He says, nudging her arm.

"Check on the others," She tells him.

"You look exhausted," He studies her. She looks more than exhausted. Like she's been up for days without an ounce of sleep. "I would say sleep in here but… I kind of tore it apart." He says, chuckling.

"Yeah, why did you do that?" She asks.

"I was… angry. Mad. I needed to do that."

"So, you're going to do that every time you're angry or mad?" Bonnie glares at him. She sees the corner of his eyes curl with excitement. She chuckles at Damon's smirk, a little tired of his smug looks, and walks to the door.

"Hey, I'm coming with!" Damon says, catching up to her. They walk out of the room and into the hallway. Damon folds his arms arrogantly.

"Not as savvy as the Salvatore mansion but," He looks at Bonnie, the same grin across his chiseled face, "It'll do."

"Arabess?" Bonnie says as she walks into the living room with Damon. Arabess is sitting on the sofa, staring straight ahead at the front door. Bonnie looks at her, almost tired, exhausted of her, confused about her. She doesn't know how she's feeling and it makes Bonnie anxious in approaching her. The last encounter they had Bonnie yelled at her for trying to help. And the little girl displayed so much emotion, she was as remorseful as a killer butterfly, but in the aftermath she shifted back to her former, unattached self. Bonnie tries not to blame herself, but it's hard for her not too.

"Who is Arabess?" Damon asks. Arabess' head turned as she heard the voice of the mad man that she found so intriguing, it's offensive and unabashedly tone enthralling the little girl even more. It's so different than what she expected… but what did the little Arabess expect?

Bonnie points at Arabess, showing Damon. "She's been your guardian angel. You should thank her."

Damon feels the little girl's eyes burn through him, sending a hot flash down his body. He leans into Bonnie's ear. "Um… why is she piercing me with those eyes?"

"I don't know, but you need to introduce yourself," Bonnie whispers back to him. Damon nods and walks over to Arabess, standing in front of her.

"Hey Arabess… My name is Damon, and," Damon says. He searches his mind for the right words, trying to be a bit less vulgar in the likes of a child.

_A child human being_, Damon thinks to himself. He can't even remember the last time he was with a child.

"I… think that your name is really cool," Damon says, sighing after feeling slightly bashful of this exchange. Bonnie pats her fingers into her other palm, giving Damon a silent applaud. She was actually impressed.

"I also want to thank you for watching for me," Damon says, looking into her deep, dark eyes. He leans in closer to her, putting a hand over the side his mouth so Bonnie can't read his lips. "Cause I know this one was terrible at it," Damon whispers to her. Arabess' lips twitch, a product of her trying to stifle a smile.

Bonnie sees it, and initially is jealous that she's responding to a guy like Damon than her, but she sets those ill feelings aside to open up space for the little Arabess' wings to spread. If Damon can be the one to do that, in a shockingly riveting turn of events, then Bonnie will not be the one to stand in his way, only by his side to support him along the way.

Damon stands up and turns around, looking at Bonnie. "Where's my jacket?" Bonnie opens her mouth in awe, remembering she left it on the beach.

"I think it's still on the beach," Bonnie says, her mouth stretching, revealing her teeth. "Sorry."

"Really, Bonnie?" He says. He starts walking towards the front door. Ross busts in, looking as pale as usual. Sweat dripped down his forehead and onto the floor.

"Damon?" He says through exhausted breaths, "You're alive!"

Damon nods. "Yeah… this your place?"

Ross nods. "It's great, isn't it?" Ross starts coughing, belting over. Damon and Bonnie run to comfort him. Damon pats his back as he rises back up.

"I kind of ruined your room," Damon says to him. "I'm sorry."

"You know what, it's okay. You've been through a lot." Ross walks between them, his gut twisting inside him evoking immense pain throughout his body. He falls on the couch as if every part of his body is aching, and it is.

Damon and Bonnie watch with remorseful faces, shifting the mood of the room into a mass of depression.

"Are you going to be okay here, by yourself?" Bonnie asks him, "Damon wants to go get his jacket." She says annoyed by the fact. Damon glares at her.

"She left it on the beach!" Damon says. The banter continues between the two souls, sass and wit thrown from both ways. Ross chuckles at their exchange; it reminds him of someone. He sees Arabess follow them and he reaches for her, sitting up and feeling the tips of a thousand knives piercing his chest. He grinds his teeth and sits back, succumbing to the pain.

Arabess tugs on Damon's back pocket while he tells Bonnie how dismissive he is of her inhibitions.

"Um, you just really need to let go sometimes—oh!" Damon says. He turns around and sees little Arabess holding onto to his pants. He chuckles, grinning at Bonnie then back at Arabess.

"Hey…"

"Arabess?" Bonnie bends down next to her. "You can't follow us, okay? Go back inside with Ross."

Arabess looks at Bonnie for a second then back at Damon. Bonnie sighs.

"Seriously, Arabess. It's too dangerous. He'll be back."

Arabess looks down at the ground and turns around, moping back to the cabin. Damon feels a little bad, and looks at Bonnie, shaking his head.

"You're going to be the worst mother."

Bonnie folds her arms and narrows her eyes at Damon in a scowling way, then trudges through the forest.

Damon walks onto the beach, the soft beach sand soothing between his pale feet. He searches the shoreline for his jacket. Bonnie walks up behind him looking down the shoreline also, the strong winds whipping her short, dark hair behind her.

"You see it?" Damon asks, as happy as he ever was in the land of the Forgotten. The wind brought out a particular side of Damon, one that enjoyed the predicament he was in. Maybe it felt good meshed against his pain, and he could last just a little while longer.

"No," Bonnie says, lifting her chin. The wind whipped harder and faster as the two walked against it. It brought the both of them back to their final time, their final goodbyes, and ending moments when they had to accept the reality that was their death. Both of them wonder what would have happened if they weren't lost in each other's grasp.

Damon feels the wind whip across his head in a weird, ticklish way. He feels across his head and notices his hair is gone. He averts his eyes to Bonnie, who is still looking straight ahead. Then he looks downward as his palm goes down the backside of his head.

The wind settles to a calm whistle. Bonnie looks at the cloudy sky and notices a dark blue swirl across the grey clouds. She points it out.

"That's weird," Bonnie says to Damon. He looks at it, swallowing; a grave demeanor on his jutted jaw. Looking at the weird swirl in the sky, his left eye twitches.

"What do you think everyone's doing at home?" Damon asks Bonnie.

She thinks about the question a second, turning her gaze towards the forest and remembering the last time her friends saw her— in the woods.

"Knowing Elena and Jeremy… they're trying to find a way for us to come back home," Bonnie says, a starry woe amassing in her eyes as they widen. She's torn. She wants her friends to look for her. And Damon. Another part of her wants them to move on as they should. Maybe Damon and Bonnie's time on earth is up.

_Our time is up,_ Bonnie thinks as a she gasps, so quietly not even Damon hears it. He turns and looks at her though, snapping him out of his deep thoughts.

"Yeah… I kind of don't want them to be looking for us," He says, his mouth agape. "I think they should move on."

Bonnie looks over at him, hoping the water filling in her eyes dissipates before Damon notices. He cares sometimes.

"Do you not want to go back home?" Bonnie asks in a kind, open tone. Not suggesting Damon lost faith or that he wants to stay, because Bonnie wouldn't judge. She's thought about staying too…

"I would LOVE to go back home," Damon says, the passion breaking through his gritty voice. "I would KILL, Bonnie."

Bonnie looks around her, blinking, almost spacing out. "Me too," She says, sniffling. She misses her home every day. It kills her to pretend like it doesn't hurt. She just wants to fall to her knees, become susceptible to her sorrow, and feed in to the morose feelings eating away at her every day.

"Come on," Damon says. They start walking down the beach, getting closer to the shore line. Damon walks directly on the edge, the sea water just missing his bare feet. The quietness surrounds them as they search for his jacket. Bonnie walks alongside him, focused on finding his jacket. She squints, looking in the distance, and pointing.

"Is that it?" She says. Damon looks along with her and he dashes to it, picking it up.

"Yeah!" He yells from afar. He sniffs the jacket and waves his hand at it. "It smells so bad, man!"

She chuckles and Damon dashes back in front of her.

"I know somewhere you can wash it," She tells him.

"Cool," Damon says, grinning back at her. Damon's eyes jump when he sees a man rush out of the forest, heaving like a primitive, uncivilized goon. The vampire's fangs hang out of its mouth and it screams into the sky like a banshee. It sprints at Bonnie but she blasts it away with her magic. The vampire goes flying back, rolling on the ground.

Damon sprints to the vampire, tackling it and pulling his fist back while on top of it. The vampire sees Damon's face and flails out of Damon's arms in fear. It cries like an injured puppy as it scurried away and back into the woods. Damon stands up, a little confused. Bonnie catches up to him, holding onto his shoulder.

"He's scared of you?" Bonnie asks, catching her breath.

"Yeah…" Damon replies, still fixating on the uncanny notion of his troubling intimidation. He can't put his finger on it. He knows he's intimidating, but here? It couldn't be so. Bonnie sees his studying eyes in pensive thought, focused on the forest. She doesn't wonder about it though.

"I wonder how many more of those are running around here." She asks, but Damon ignores. He's too distraught over the very recent occurrences…

Bonnie leads Damon to the freshwater lake she found. They stand before it as glimmers and shines on their faces, the grey clouds reflecting off of it marvelously. Damon doesn't hesitate to touch it, quickly first and realizing it's harmless. Then he puts his feet into it, looking back at Bonnie and giving her a thumbs up. She nods.

He grabs his jacket and starts to sink it into the water, but then he sees something. The decaying-like, hideousness of his face reflecting in the water. He watches the water ripple over his bulging right eye, in which he hasn't felt pain in since he's awakened. The redness of his face and all around his neck, including the blisters. All of his hair gone in an instant, only to someday come growing back in the worst way.

He reaches up with his hand, shaky and slow, touching his face. He rubs down his right eye, feeling the bulge and brushes over his neck, the blisters giving him a nasty vibe. He wipes his hand over his head feeling the small hairs almost identical to facial hair stubble. He pulls his hand down to his side quickly and forces the jacket into the water.

Bonnie watches as he sinks the jacket in and out, in and out with a tiresome and reckless continuity. She stands up slowly, walking towards him. He starts punching the jacket nonstop, grunting on each punch.

Bonnie looks away in a quick shift, trying to think of what to do. She rubs her palms on the side of her thighs, taking a deep breath. Damon suddenly stops, throwing the jacket off to the side. He reaches back up at his eye, even feeling over his chest feeling bruises and burns there. He turns his head to the side, almost signaling for Bonnie. She crouches behind him, a bit perplexed.

"Why am I not healing?" Damon asks her, deep down, knowing the answer but hoping Bonnie will give him something better.

"You know why," She tells him. "We won't know how long it will be until you're fully healed though."

"Why didn't you tell me about these human-like injuries?"

"Because I didn't think it would matter… I'm not going it was weird, seeing you like that. So bruised and beat up. Burned. But then I thought, you'll heal one day. And it'll all be fine."

Damon nods, hesitant, not wanting to accept it but she said it. The undisputable truth falling right out of Bonnie's honest lips. There was no getting around it. When he first saw Ross, he was falling apart at the seams, looking for anything to dig his fangs into… so it's true. He has every ability a vampire should have, except for expeditious healing.

"Does Ross have any spare jeans?" Damon asks, looking across the lake.

"I'm sure he does. He has a vast array of clothing, I mean I'm wearing his outfit."

Damon turns around and peers at Bonnie, chuckling. He looks back at the lake, a shadow of dismay casting over him.

"I'll go see what he has," Bonnie says. Damon doesn't say or do anything. He just sits in a lost escapade as Bonnie stands behind him and gazes at him in worry. Her bottom lip pulls apart from her top a little as she thinks about what he's thinking.

_The indiscernible Damon Salvatore… almost as bad as Arabess,_ Bonnie thinks as she makes her way back to the cabin. She turns back around, ready to ask Damon something.

Damon puts a hand on the button of his pants, and undoes it in one motion. As the button flicks apart from its hole, Damon's eyebrow lifts; his face a stillness like the water before him. He holds the button with one hand, and unzips his pants with his other hand, standing up from his knees. He pulls his pants from his slim waist down his toned thighs and knees and carefully sculpted-like calves. His legs lift from the pants and he flicks them away with his right one.

His thumbs sink between the seams of his boxers and lower abs. He swings his thumbs around his body, in a swift motion, pulling the boxers down his legs. He steps out of the boxers and into the lake, walking until he submerges himself under.

Bonnie looks away.

_Did I really, just… _She thinks to herself, after witnessing Damon stripping… and liking it. Maybe it's because she's feeling for something only a man can provide or Damon's body is just THAT good. She exhales, thinking about his bare, pale and oddly burn-free ass contrasting the yellowish blisters covering a majority of his back.

"I cannot believe myself…" She says to herself, walking back to the cabin. She shakes her head, trying not to relive the images she just witnessed.

She walks into the cabin to see Ross' deteriorating body lying across the sofa, his arm hanging off of it. Bonnie walks up to him and pushes him, trying to wake up. He doesn't budge. She pushes him again and he reacts violently, grabbing her and hissing at her. Then he realizes its Bonnie, covering his mouth in shock. Bonnie works to contain her impending fear of Ross and show him everything is fine.

"I'm so sorry, Bonnie!" He says, tears swelling in his eyes. Bonnie assures him it's okay, while a daunting task develops in her wise mind… She should give Ross some of her blood.

"It's okay… but do you have any clothes that Damon can wear? Pants, perhaps?" Bonnie asks. Ross nods and motions for Bonnie to follow. She does so, all the while thinking about feeding the increasingly decaying Ross some of her blood. It's only up to her or Luca, and Luca is the last person to ask with his evil agenda on annihilating all vampires. As she follows him into the room, watching him try to cover his stumbles and coughs to make it seem like he's doing fine, she thinks hard about doing it.

She closes the door behind her. Ross searches the fallen drawers for a pair of pants Damon would like. Bonnie approaches him, swallowing.

"Ross?" He looks at her, still searching but giving her his attention. "I need you to do me a favor."

"Another one? Jeez, Bonnie, you are neeeeeeedy!" He says with a slight laugh along and a barking cough shortly after.

"I need you to drink my blood," She says to him as he finds the right pair. He looks at her and his fangs elongate as he thinks about her dark, ripe blood passing through his mouth. He wanted it.

He shakes his head. "Mm, mm…" Ross says, the temptation coursing through his body. All he sees now is Bonnie as some kind of blood bag and he hated it. He sprints out of the room and out of the cabin, slamming against a tree. He leans on it, trying to calm his insatiable hunger. Bonnie runs out after him and he throws the pants in her direction.

"Do NOT come any closer, Bonnie!" He demands, and before she could say anything he sprints away into the forest. Bonnie walks to the pair of pants and picks them up, running to the lake. She stops at the shore and calls for Damon.

Submerged under the water, his eyes open as he hears his name. He swims his naked body up to the surface and slowly rises. Bonnie sees him walk towards the shallow water, revealing his torso, then his waist… she looks away then, tossing the pants on the ground closer to him.

"Oh, grow up!" Damon says to her, reaching for the pants and putting them on.

"You grow up." Bonnie replies, her face still turned and filling with annoyance. Damon hops, pulling up the tight jeans and zipping them up.

"Okay," He says, and she turns back around, seeing him button the pants. He smirks at her and walks towards her.

"BONNIE!?" Luca calls from afar. Bonnie hears her name and looks around, so does Damon. She sees Luca sprinting towards the cabin.

"Luca! I'm over here!" She says as she runs to meet him. She sees this puzzled, exasperated look on his face. "What's wrong?"

He holds up a piece of fabric. Arabess' clothing. Bonnie's heart begins beating faster. She swallows and shakes her head, profusely.

"No, because Arabess is in the cabin!" Bonnie says, pointing towards the cabin. She sprints to check the cabin. Luca looks at the fabric of clothing positive that it's Arabess'. He hears footsteps behind him and sees Damon approaching behind him, throwing his wet leather jacket on. Damon looks Luca up and down as he walks passed him, and Luca mugs him, gripping the fabric in his palm.

Luca follows him inside the cabin where Bonnie comes sprinting from the back, panting.

"She's not here! Damon she's not here!" Bonnie cries out. Damon walks up to Bonnie, attempting to console her panicked mind. Bonnie thought of the worse as she looked at the fabric in Luca's hand.

She snatches the fabric from him. "What're you doing?!" Luca asks.

"A spell, what do you think?" She snaps on Luca. He backs away and starts tapping his foot against the floor. Bonnie places both hands on the fabric and shuts her eyes tight, trying to remember the location spell.

_The easiest spell,_ She thinks to herself.

"Look," Luca begins to speak, evoking Damon's sassy eye roll. He ignores Luca, and focuses on Bonnie as she struggles to perform the spell. "I know this is going to sound harsh, but I think we should leave the girl."

Damon hears this and turns around, his eyes maddening into crazed orbs. He looks at Luca, pushing him with intensity. "What, scum?" He says to him, pushing him again.

"Hey! Back off!" Luca says pressing his palm against Damon's chest and knocking him back a few steps. Bonnie opens her eyes, mumbling through her teeth to complete spell. Remembering her promise to Jenica to protect Arabess at all costs.

"Are you crazy? Thinking about leaving an innocent little girl?" Damon says to him.

"An innocent little girl who's yet to prove she can survive… she hasn't even said anything yet! I say we leave her!" Luca yells. Damon gets in his face, menacingly.

"I say YOU don't get a say," Damon says as Bonnie turns around to face them, throwing the fabric across the room.

"Will you two stop! I can't even concentrate!" Bonnie yells at them.

"Bonnie, listen to me," Luca says as Damon glares at him with threat, "The girl is dead weight. She's just holding us back and you know it!"

Bonnie shakes her head, but couldn't help but think about the facts in his harsh words. That's when they hear a creak by the front door. It's Arabess, holding a mother raccoon in her right hand and a baby in her left, both dead and bleeding. Bonnie looks at her face in anguish, bloodspots all over her face like beauty marks.

Damon is sort of intrigued and kind of freaked out. He turns to look at Bonnie, though his eyes stay on Arabess. Luca looks at her in disgust, his eyebrows furrowed. He closes his eyes and looks away, whispering something to himself.

The mother raccoon twitches and screeches, startling them, but Arabess lies it on the ground, holding it's tail and smashes its head in with her foot, blood gushing around the front of her shoe. She lets go of the raccoon's tail, revealing her bloody hands and wiping them on her pants. She looks up at the three of them, with her innocent eyes.

"I wanted help," Arabess says, tossing the baby raccoon towards them. She smiles, her lips sealed across her animated face.


	10. Damn These Walls

Arabess looks at Damon. Her eyebrows raise; a sharp contrast of her naive, baby face and blood stains drying against her face. Damon stares into Arabess' eyes and he could sense that she is being sincere. She truly wanted to assist and in Damon's diverging judgment, he thought she was crazy.

_Bat shit._

Damon steps in front of Bonnie and walks towards Arabess, the baby raccoon lying like a mauled inordinate beast. He crouches down in front of the raccoon. Blood bubbles out of its twisted neck. Damon looks back at Bonnie, who is still fixated on the sight of an elementary school girl standing in the doorway like a misunderstood murderer. The view brought chills on Bonnie, but she contained her real feelings. Concealed with a look of placid selflessness, she thought:

_This is not okay._

Damon sticks his finger inside the wounded neck of the raccoon, blood gushes around his finger. He looks up at Arabess, who steps closer overcome with excitement. Arabess' teeth show as she bends down in front of Damon, then looking at Bonnie and Luca. Luca couldn't hold back his cold resentment, glaring at Arabess like she is a monster.

_She's becoming like him,_ Luca thinks turning his fiery gaze to Damon.

Damon removes his finger from the wound and pops it in his mouth. Arabess nods elatedly. Bonnie taps Damon on the back inconspicuously, non-verbally asking 'What the hell'.

"Is it good for us?" Arabess asks, her eyes jumping from Luca's glare of horror and Bonnie's accepting aura. "Is it? Is it?!"

Damon swallows the repugnant, weak taste of the forest animal. His eyes move to the corner of his eye lid as he delves in pensive thought, or at least pretends for Arabess.

"More of uh…" Damon states, looking up to the Arabess, "More of my brother's tastes, but for them. I'm sure it'd be okay."

Arabess jumps gleefully. Damon turns around, wide eyed at Bonnie. Then he sticks his tongue out and points in his mouth, signifying how distasteful the raccoon actually was. He mouths the words 'gross' as Bonnie walks passed him. She walks up to Arabess, who is smiling so brightly at her. She reaches for Arabess hesitantly, not sure where to place her hands. She just rests them on her shoulder and bends down.

"Arabess, you…" Bonnie begins to tell her, to encourage her or congratulate her and not reprimand her like she did last time. That only fought fire with fire as it burns within Arabess' seemingly innocuous body, which is not the case anymore.

Bonnie takes a deep breath. "You did good, okay? You got us food. That's good, but we need to get you cleaned up. Damon and Luca will take care of this, okay?"

Arabess' smile shortens up and she looks at Damon. She points to him.

"Damon," Arabess says. Bonnie furrows her brow.

"Yeah…" Bonnie says. She stands up. "Okay, let's go," She starts nudging Arabess out of the door and Damon says her Bonnie's name. She stops and turns around.

"You want me to take her?" He asks her. "If I stay here with psycho-pants any longer, I might kill him."

"Then learn self-control," Bonnie snaps back at Damon. She looks over her shoulder at him as she walks Arabess out of the house. He watches her and his nose scrunches up. Bonnie Bennett is a woman known infamously of royally pissing Damon off… only because she's usually right.

Damon looks back at Luca, who folds his arms. Damon points at the raccoon.

"Pick it up," He says to him, blinking.

Bonnie and Arabess walk out to the lake, the freshwater air moistening the environment around them. Bonnie sensed this. She could feel the earth around her again, and she felt superior. Higher. Better.

She looked down at Arabess, her face frozen. She looks scared. Bonnie, worried, bends down next to her. She looks in the same direction Arabess is, but she doesn't see anything. Just the glistening, cold water. Bonnie thought Arabess would have liked this. The water.

"What do you see, Arabess?" Bonnie asks. Arabess doesn't say anything. Her mouth only opens, as if she has just saw something. Her breaths become shaky. She twitches back; her face paralyzed under fearfulness. Bonnie cusps her face and she looks at Bonnie.

"Hey…" Bonnie says to her. "You can tell me what's wrong."

Arabess' wandering eyes look down at the ground. "I want Damon," Arabess tells her. She doesn't look up. She keeps her gaze on the ground.

Bonnie sucks in her jaws at the comment. She nods, exhaling.

"Yeah, I'll get Damon. Stay right here." Bonnie stands up and walks back to the cabin, wondering why she can't get through to Arabess. Is it because she yelled at her?

_So senseless,_ Bonnie thinks as she shakes her head. Arabess was in a fragile state. Bonnie should have thought more clearly and been a little less vocal about her over-protective nature of Arabess. But at the time, Bonnie didn't know what to think. Her impulse came through and she did what she naturally thought was right. At the time, it felt right and if she could do it all over again—even if it meant Arabess' cold, standstill face—Bonnie would.

She does feel a little contrite about the situation now. She walks into the cabin and sees Damon trying to skin the raccoon with his bare hands but to no avail. He smiles at her when he glances. And she gives him back a sickening look.

"What?" He says.

"Arabess wants you," Bonnie says, trying to withhold the jealousy aching to breach into her tone.

"Well," Damon stands, "Here ya go!" He tosses the raccoon at her and it hits her in her chest and plops on the ground, splattering blood everywhere. Bonnie's eyes look up toward the ceiling as if she's annoyed and Damon leaves, cackling.

"He's an ass, isn't he?" Luca says, sitting at the table to her right. He's skinning the mother raccoon, a disgusted look on his face.

"He's… just a lot," Bonnie says, picking the baby raccoon from off the floor. She sits down across from Luca and sighs. She starts trying to skin the raccoon, having a difficult time. Luca drops his and reaches over to help her, but she snatches away. "I got it!"

Luca retracts his hands, tightening his lips together. He picks the raccoon back up, skinning it. The silence growing between them spreads throughout the cabin. Bonnie still isn't getting the hang of it and looks to Luca for help. He grabs the raccoon from her, feeling the touch of her plush fingers.

"So, first," He starts demonstrating, pulling out a small knife, "Let's decapitate it." Bonnie notices the knife and cocks her head, curious as to where he got it.

"I don't remember you having a blade," She says, her eyes narrowed at his face.

"I found it… up by the Witches' Playground," Luca tells her in a convincing manner. He tried to, at least. But Bonnie saw right through it. She didn't let on about it though. No need.

Luca sticks the knife into the baby raccoon's neck. Bonnie looks on, her stomach filling with butterflies. She feels her body becoming weak as Luca takes the knife around the poor baby raccoon's neck.

The head falls off, landing on the table. "Then," Luca continues, dropping the raccoon onto its back on the table, "I usually just split down the middle." Luca takes the blade down the middle of the raccoon and then he pushes it towards Bonnie, who's eager to help. Which would seem odd, back on earth… but here, wherever they are, survival is essential and any way she can help she will. Bonnie is never one to let others do work for her.

She peels the skin to both sides and starts ripping the skin off. She finally begins to get the hang of it and looks up at Luca.

"Thanks Luca," She says to him, nodding. He nods back.

"So, I've been learning some new spells," He tells her. "I wish I had a notebook or something to write them down in—it's kind of like a fill in for my cookbook."

Bonnie nods. "You'll have to teach me soon," She replies. "I need to get stronger. Quickly." Her eyes make sure to meet his eyes and he swallows, feeling a bit intimidated but also daringly intrigued. He raises an eyebrow in enticement.

"Yeah, sure," Luca finishes skinning and gutting the raccoon. He sits back and stretches. "There's something I really oughta show you, anyway."

Bonnie rips off the last of the skin of her raccoon, setting it to the side with the rest. She sees Luca's eyes resting easy on her.

"What did you REALLY think about that whole thing with Arabess?" Luca asks, the elephant in the room finally announced. Bonnie had the answer, but she didn't know how to communicate it. And she didn't want to say something wrong to Luca, who's been known to misconstrue things lately.

"I honestly can't say," Bonnie replies. Luca's eyes grow into shock. "But what I will say, is she pulled her weight. She is capable, obviously."

"But of what?" Luca says, a bunch of virulent images running through his mind. He knows Arabess has experienced so much trauma and so much violence in her life. He also knows about her lineage. "Her family are underwater vampires. She will eat us."

"We will see about that, Luca. Don't be so drastic." She tells him, but also undeniably telling herself. She's thought of that. What Arabess actually IS. She certainly isn't human, and if she were as ravenous as Luca is implying she would have ate those raccoons herself. Or… the three of them.

"I'm just saying, I know what those things are capable of. And they start them off young."

"Jenica told me she kept Arabess away from all that."

"Let's just keep an eye out for the little mink. Alright?" Luca says.

_Mink,_ Bonnie thinks. She remembers learning about these animals from her brief stint in college. A small animal similar to a weasel which most of its population is made up of feral ones. She wondered why Luca used that word to describe Arabess. To insult her? To describe her?

_The young Mink,_ Bonnie thinks, and oddly, she doesn't think of it as a bad name anymore. She actually likes the name.

Damon busts in carrying Arabess on her shoulders. She is wearing tacky brown shorts and Damon's jacket, which is big on her. They waltz in laughing as he spins her around, getting dizzy himself. Bonnie watches and chuckles, shaking her head. Moments later, she gets out of her spell and notices Arabess isn't wearing a shirt under the jacket.

"Where is her shirt, Damon?" She asks.

"By the lake," Damon says, still spinning Arabess in a circle.

"You're not going to scrub that—" Bonnie pauses, trying to find a more suitable word. "That ickyness from her shirt?"

"Uh… I forgot," He says, falling onto the couch with her. Bonnie couldn't get upset. She promised Jenica she'd protect Arabess. Keep her safe. Keep her happy. And she's doing just that, she thinks, as long as Damon is around.

Bonnie picks up the remaining insides of the raccoon's that weren't edible. Her and Luca exchange looks, him smiling at her. She shakes her head, the cold and slimy organs spilling over her hands. Luca walks with her out of the cabin and to the lake.

Bonnie tosses the organs into the forest, one of the intestines hang from a tree. They walk over to the lake and Bonnie sighs, seeing Arabess' dirty and bloody shirt lying on the edge of it.

"Damon is so… ugh!" Bonnie says picking up the shirt. She dips it in the water, swirling it around, and then trying to scrub the blood out of the shirt. Luca looks behind him, hearing a noise. He sees a crow, the same mutated crow, land on the branch where the intestine hangs. Its beak elongates and it pecks at the organ. He turns back around and sees Kaya across the lake, waving. His lips part and his eyes narrow.

Bonnie stands up, holding the wet, white shirt out in front of her. She studies it, then hears a voice in her head. The word she hears, indistinguishable. She lowers the shirt. Kaya is gone. But she suspects something. She turns to Luca.

"Did you hear that?" She asks.

"I didn't hear anything," Luca says.

"Hmph. I must be tripping," Bonnie says as she goes back to scrubbing the shirt. "This look clean to you?"

Luca doesn't look at the shirt. "Yeah," He says, while looking around for Kaya. Bonnie twists the shirt and squeezes it to dry it. She then stands up and shakes the shirt.

Luca is still searching the area around them attentively. Bonnie notices.

"You see something?" She asks. He shakes his head.

"No. Nothing," He replies. Bonnie narrows her eyes at him. She walks away and heads back to the cabin. Luca shuts his eyes tight and sighs, mad at himself. He can feel Bonnie's suspicion growing about him.

Bonnie walks into the cabin and hangs the wet shirt on a chair so it can dry. She turns around and looks at Damon and Arabess. He's sitting on the floor against the sofa and Arabess is sitting on the sofa, using his bald head as a drum. Damon doesn't mind. He's somewhere else right now.

His brooding face disappears and changes into something slightly demonic, as he looks up at Bonnie like he wanted something. She stared back in a curious way, wondering what exactly he wanted. He stands up and walks towards Bonnie. Her heart pounds. She never understands why, but Damon does that to her. He makes her feel nervous or anxious, but at the same time confident and bold.

He stops a few feet in front of her. Bonnie can't take the lingering, indecipherable looks. She's unable too. She sighs.

"What?" Bonnie says, a bit impatient. He nods his head to the left, towards the hallway. She cocks her head confused at his actions. He starts walking down the hall and she follows him.

Damon walks into the small bathroom, Bonnie closely following in. Her mind in anticipation, she wonders what he's up to. She doesn't say anything though. She just watches him as he stares down at the sink, placing his hands on it. He swallows.

Bonnie watches as he slowly lifts his chin until his eyes meet his own in the mirror. He shutters.

"Do you see this?" Damon asks her. His voice is on edge but composed in a whisper. Bonnie looks at him through the mirror. He must be talking of his healing. It's slow, uncompromising, corrupt, and indisputable ways— it's eviscerating.

_God, will he ever get better? This can't be good for him._

Bonnie's misjudging voice carries along through her head: _What does he want me to see? _

Like the chorus of an idyllic melody, the voice in her head plays along a reiteration composed of disparage and fleeting peacefulness.

_What does he expect me to do? I know he doesn't—_ She stops thinking. Her mind goes blank. Damon has her wrist in the clasp of his palm. He looks at her as he lifts it to his quivering lips. She looks back into his trying eyes, her heart beating fast and unstoppably. Her wrist reaches his lips and she feels them open on her skin and hug her wrist tight. His fangs sink in and his eyes close, the blood rushes out of her and into his mouth.

Her eyes wide, she trembles. Damon retracts his fangs and lets go of her wrist. Damon searches his face for a difference, looking in the mirror for a healing or a traceable mend. Fury rises in his body as his eyes get big and watery. They twitch and narrow. They become slim then expand in minute movements. He punches the mirror, glass flying everywhere. Bonnie jumps back, covering her head and face with her arms. He stumbles back and falls into the tub behind him. He looks at his bloody knuckles, his thumb rubbing across the wounds.

Bonnie peeks through her arms, looking up. The glass is everywhere, from the sink to the floor. Her eyes turn to Damon. She walks over to him and thinks about his connection with Arabess.

Being funny, she thinks: _The reason they get along so well is that they're the most cryptic and unpredictable creatures in their own skin that love to drive me insane with their implicit behaviors. _

She climbs in the tub next to him, her knees meeting her chest as she sits down. His legs hang out of the tub. He turns and looks at Bonnie, then he hangs his head down still rubbing the blood on his knuckles.

He reaches over and grabs her arm, the one he took blood from. She needs healing. He let's go of her wrist and lifts his hand up slowly. His thumb covered in blood, held inches from her mouth; she sees it. Her mouth opens, the lips pulling apart slowly. She wraps her lips around it like a sweet, ripe strawberry.

Bonnie hurriedly gets out of the tub and walks out of the bathroom, leaving Damon in the small vicinity of his incomplete feelings. He pushes off the tub, standing up and in the glass. Bonnie walks back in with a broom and dustpan. She hands it to him and he takes it, willingly and without fret. Bonnie leaves him to it, walking out.

Damon sweep up the mirror he turned into shards; kind of wishing the mirror was still there. His face is just something he'd have to get used to for the time being. His hair too. This is all a part of this new life—that he still wasn't sure he wanted to live. But he's enjoying something of it: Arabess and Bonnie.

Bonnie peeks back into the bathroom. She smirks, not smugly but more of shock. Bonnie walks in and picks up the dustpan, bending down. She helps him, holding the dustpan in front of the pile of glass. Damon sweeps the glass into it and she stands up, leaving again. He follows her all the way outside of the cabin where she dumps the glass into the forest.

She takes a deep breath and turns around. "We had to clean that up," She says, feeling an awkward attraction to him. Her actions begin to become quirky. "You know? Because, it's not our house."

Damon nods. "Yeah, I get it," He replies, feeling a similar and kind of lurking attraction looming between them. To his hard soul— it felt spontaneous, random, or surprising at best. It's like one second there was nothing and the next it was a feeling he couldn't shake.


	11. Tough Love

About a hundred feet away, Ross leans against a tree to get some rest. He hasn't been running at all. His fatigue is declining and it's going faster and faster. He clutches the duffle bag in his hand and looks around. He sees Bonnie and Damon talking to each other so he rushes over to them. He collides into them, knocking them onto the ground. Everything in his duffle bag falls out.

"Ross?!" Bonnie says as she looks at him and then at the scrapbook that fell out of his duffle bag.

"What the hell are you doing?" says Damon. Ross clears his throat and apologizes.

"I couldn't stop myself. I guess while my vampiric abilities deteriorate— enhanced hearing, smelling, and strength," Ross takes a deep breath— not able to speak more than ten words without having to catch his breath. "They're like spazzing out or something. I can't seem to gain control over them."

Bonnie picks up the scrapbook and looks at Ross' other things scattered on the ground: a notebook with 'Reduction' written on it, some jewelry, clothes, and an old radio.

"What is all this?" Bonnie asks, intrigued.

"Just a few memories I kept from… when everything went to shit! Vampires were persecuted and exiled from the city…" Ross swallows. He starts to talk in a desperate, stray voice. His eyes thinned slightly as he looked up into the gloomy air. He remembers everything and wants to tell them, Bonnie and Damon, everything.

"It was terrible. Horrible. The witches they started this uprising because of a few stray vampires wreaking havoc on the city. Because see, the antagonism between the two factions was already there. It was very discreet, very…" He looks at Bonnie.

"Very calculated and ominous. You know, the few vampire friends I had, we all knew something big was approaching. But it wasn't until these vampires, these _jaded_ degenerates decide to kill, maim, maul, suck, and rip the life out of humans and witches alike. That included babies and children. Innocent families that didn't even know about what was going on…" His eyes drift to the ground, slowly. They begin to look like vast caves. Bonnie looks, not sure of what's hiding behind them.

"But that's what did it. That was the spark to the flame, the—the penultimate tribulation… that decided all vampires' fates. MY own BROTHERS SEALED my FATE!"

Ross can feel himself growing angry as he relives the torturous experiences in his head. He calms himself down. Damon averts his eyes at him.

"So…?" Damon asks in his own impatiently curious way. "…What happened then?"

"The witches began their uprising. It started with small, trivial but annoying laws against vampires. Protests. Then it became… oppressive when this new leader, this new, twisted witch instills these values and ideas of controlling and manipulating vampires to all the witches. Even the humans! So, the witches, and you have to understand that here—" Ross points to the ground, tapping downward against the air, anxiously.

"Here, witches are the most powerful beings. Plus, they're immortal," Ross says. Damon looks at Bonnie and she looks away from him.

"So, they have the police department do these mass arrests of vampires. They put us in these camps to 'reinvent' or 'assimilate' us. But all they did was tear us apart and rip our humanity from us. And after they played operation us, the witches perform this mass spell. They conjure up every ounce of power they have, sacrificing some of their own, to reverse our rings in the perimeter of the city. And, like that, they stop working. And we start burning. We run from the camps, from hiding spots, from our families who LOVED us…"

Ross looks at Bonnie and shutters, his eyes feeling with water. He tries to hold back tears and he convulses a bit, fighting it. Bonnie places a hand on his and he bites his lip. Damon stares at him, intrigued by the story.

"It's okay. It's just us," Damon tells him attempting to console him. "Go on…"

"Some of us even ran from people we thought loved us… who participated in the uprising. In the massacre and extermination of an entire group of GOOD vampires…" Ross says.

"Where I'm from, vampires can be pretty nasty," Bonnie begins to say to him, "I'm guessing that's not the case here."

"No, we can get nasty. We're a violent, predatory species— but we evolved. We changed here because people wanted us to. Because they wanted us to. But the blurred hate from each faction became too clear… crystal clear and this is what it led to."

Ross looks around at the forest. Bonnie and Damon do also.

"The Land of the Forgotten… where vampires slowly lose their minds, their sanity... where we have to starve or feed on each other." Ross says.

Ross' eyes fill with water again as he stares down at his side. Bonnie takes a deep breath.

"Ross, I'm so, so sorry for everything… You're a good guy, from helping Damon to helping me help Damon. Thank you. ," Bonnie says, she turns to see Damon nodding in agreement with her. She crawls over to Ross and hugs him, closing her eyes. He rubs his nose from her neck and down to her shoulders, still trying not to cry. He smells her undeniably sweet blood. It doesn't affect him though.

Bonnie pulls away, smiling. She looks at Ross' things again.

"I'm going to check on Arabess. I'll be back," Damon says. He stands up and walks back to the cabin.

"Yeah, Bonnie," Ross begins to say, "I got lucky. My humanity wasn't stripped from me. It's why I can still communicate and think rationally… even in my last moments."

"I'm sorry if this is too soon, but you mentioned a city? How can we get there?" Bonnie asks.

"You're a good witch, Bonnie. Can't say the same about Luca but— if you go into that city… who's to say they won't brainwash you with false and bias information about what happen?" Ross says.

"Nobody is going to brainwash me…" Bonnie says, thinking about her short relationship with the magic of expression. Creating the triangle, admissibly wanting to murder innocents... She was manipulated. She was brainwashed and consequently, way too powerful. In the end, it killed her. Bonnie isn't that stupid to let any kind of manipulation happen to her again.

"We have Arabess and Damon… in his condition? We can't stay out here forever. We need something better." Bonnie tells him. Ross sighs, licking his lips.

"It doesn't matter anyway because I don't remember where the city is. I wouldn't even know which way to go! I could lead you to death—"

"Or you could lead us to salvation." Bonnie replies.

"No. I care too fondly of you guys to put you in any serious danger."

Ross' voice begins to tremble. He starts picking up his things and throwing them in the bag. He stands up.

"I'm leaving," He says, beginning to walk away.

"Where are you going?" Bonnie asks him.

"I'll be back!" He zooms into the forest and Bonnie sees no trace of him. She walks back into the cabin.

Damon is sifting through the bookshelf when she walks in. He turns around and glances at her.

"Seems Ross survived some sort of holocaust," Damon says to her, picking out books and handing them to Arabess. He didn't notice but she is stacking them on top of each other.

"Apparently so…" replies Bonnie in a soft tone. She lays down on the sofa, staring up at the brown, unappealing ceiling. She angles her head in Damon's direction, opening her mouth to say something. She pauses and furrows her brow.

"I feel so bad and so sorry for him." She shakes her head, angling it back to the ceiling.

"Pfft," Damon forces out, studying the back of a book he's holding. "I feel sorry for us." He tosses another book over his shoulder and Arabess catches it, adding it on top of her already precarious tower of books. He turns around and sees what she's doing.

"Hey! You are supposed to be reading those!" He says to her. She laughs and he bends down to tickle her.

Later that night, the trio plus Luca sit around a fire, watching the raccoon cook slowly. Arabess' green eyes glimmer from the flames. Damon, sitting next to her, rubs her back to see if she's okay. She turns and smiles at him, then turns her gaze back to the flaming raccoon meat.

Luca, swallowing, reaches at the contraption they made to cook the raccoon. The job was done amateurish at best, with the branch of a tree going through the raccoon meat. The branch is held up by two short logs. They had to make sure the flimsy branch, with more than enough weight it can hold on it, wouldn't roll off. Luca turns the branch, so the other side of the meat can cook.

"A city, huh? Luca mentions as his eyes avert from the grilling meat to Bonnie's endangered eyes. The captivating aura of the incandescent fire pulls her in, the sparks reaching their highest peaks from the flames and descending to the ground while evaporating in thin air. She whips her head in Luca's direction, her bottom lip curving.

"Yeah," Bonnie says, giving him a moderate smile. She stares back at the fire— feeling a passionate connection to it. It's a convulse of her mental state she feels as a fiery brilliance, something good. Intoxicating. Unlike the deafening madness her mind has endured the past few days. This is different. She sucks in the warmth the fire creates through her nose, shutting her eyes.

"Are we thinking about going?" Luca asks, eager to know. Damon cuts his eyes at him.

_We?_ Damon thought as he places his hand close to the fire. He tilts his head up at the sky, the air feeling like midnight.

"We?" Damon says in an incredulous, undeserving tone. He tilts his head back down, seeing Bonnie's face through the flames.

"Damon, if we go, and WE will— everyone is coming. I'm not leaving anyone behind."

Damon rolls his eyes. He pulls his hand away from the fire, rubbing it against his other palm. He's cold… he's always been cold. It's his nature, but this is different. He rubs his right arm and nods at Bonnie.

"This almost done?" He asks her. She leans up to look at it, squinting.

"I'm not real sure," Bonnie says, looking to Luca. And before she could say anything, he's checking the meat to see if it's good. He rips open a piece with his fingers and leans in to it very closely. His head swims around it, back and forth as he examines the meat.

"It's good. Let us eat!" Luca rubs his hands together in delight as he says that. A smile surprises Bonnie, on her own face. She didn't think she'd ever be excited to eat a raccoon.

Luca tears a piece of meat off. The others watched him while he ate it. He chewed slowly and patiently, focusing on identifying a taste.

"Hm…" Luca hums, swallowing the meat. "It could use some seasoning…"

Arabess grabs some and eats it. She smacks while chewing.

Luca hands a piece to Bonnie. She opens her mouth a bit, her bottom lip shifting to the side. Her teeth clench as her nerves exfoliate from her tense body. She takes the meat from Luca and bites into it. Its flesh thick, she can feel the juice ooze from the meat onto her lip and down her chin.

She swallows. Damon watches her like a person's enveloping fascination with the spontaneity of the starry sky. She meets his curious, nervous eye and nods her head profusely.

"It's not too bad," Bonnie says, sighing with a chuckle. Damon's cheek twitches a smile when he sees her laugh. Bonnie takes another chunk off the meat with her teeth.

"But Luca's right… could use some seasoning!" She laughs again after she says that.

Ross stumbles onto a tree with his duffle bag held close to his chest. He puts his back against the tree, uncontrollably, and leans his head against the back.

Five years, maybe. It's what it felt like to him. Five to eight years out here… but vivid images painted in his mind tell a different story. With that notion, the phrase 'a picture is worth a thousand words' illuminated like fireflies, floating through his mind, ever since the banishment of vampires from the city. Five to eight years of irreverent solitude, makeshift torment from self and from his brothers… his fellow vampire colleagues.

Ross stares up at the night sky, a blurry violet surpassing over it. There were no clouds. He tilted his head back down to his earth-shattering reality. The clouds have descended, and the fog is one of Ross' worst nightmares.

He sniffles. The smell of old, burnt iron moving him away from the tree. He sniffs around again, walking in the dizzying black of his eyes.

"Ah!" Ross screams as he topples over a body. He picks up his duffle bag and looks back at the ground. The degenerating body of a vampire lay there. His lips quivered with little intention; the rest of his body immobile. Ross bent lower. From what he could see, the vampire is need of blood.

_Stage 5… Perish. _Ross thinks as his eyes widen. He throws his duffle bag on top of the groaning vampire; his voice barely heard. He pulls out the notebook titled 'Reduction' and flips through the pages frantically. He stops on a page and searches his bag for a pencil.

He finds one and starts scribbling notes into the book, saying "Eye's dilated, bones beginning to protrude…" He stops, almost fainting on top of the body. Then he continues, "Lips thinning like rubber bands, the color violet. Entire body motionless…"

Ross drops the notebook and pencil, staring at the decaying body. "Emotionless…" He whispers to himself. He sniffles, his mind a drift. He bounces back to reality and puts his things back into his duffle bag and struggles to stand up. When he does, he groans and screams, trying to calm the pain.

Ross continues walking through the thick fog, unable to see what is right in front of him. His voice begins to wheeze as he switches his head in many different directions to remember which way he is supposed to go. He panics and panics and can feel himself going insane. So, he runs. He zooms through the forest until the fog is no more, but before he could stop he trips over a tree stump. He tumbles over and feels himself rolling down a hill. Dirt and grime stuck to his sweaty body as he rolled.

His body hits a wall. He groans, holding his back. He rolls over and sees nothing but black. He crawls to a wall and picks himself up, feeling around. He reaches up and feels nothing. He can't figure out where he is. It's so dark and with his vampire abilities declining at an accelerating rate, he won't know, until daylight falls through

Back at the cabin, Bonnie walks into the room Damon destroyed and shakes her head. She places her palm out, thinking about igniting a small fire within it to lighten her surroundings… but for some reason, she didn't need it. It's like she's become a friend to the nocturnal. She could see things, almost clearly. She puts her hand at her side and looks around for the mattress. She sees one side of it Damon tore in two and picks it up. She walks it to the center of the floor and places it down, plopping down it.

It is uncomfortable and lopsided. A lot of the fluffy cushion is scattered across the floor or inside the other mattress. She turns and looks at the other mattress, reaching for it even though it's nowhere near her reach. She's just too lazy to get up.

Damon knocks, then walks in.

"What the hell are you doing?" He asks, standing over her.

"Trying to get some sleep on a comfy surface," she replies, putting her hands behind her head. Damon grabs the other mattress and lays it parallel to Bonnie's, but not too close to her.

"So, you stealing my ideas now?" Bonnie says, turning on her side to face him.

"Please, Bennett. You know we think alike."

"Not entirely true."

Arabess walks in and stands in between them. Her head shifting from Bonnie to Damon and back to Bonnie.

"Arabess?" Damon asks her. Arabess looks back at Damon and then climbs onto the mattress with him. She snuggles up next to him, shutting her eyes. In shock, Damon mouth's the words: "What do I do?" to Bonnie.

She rolls her eyes in annoyance, and turns over. Sleeping herself. Damon sighs and looks down at Arabess. He catches a peculiar scent: rainforest. He leans a little closer to sniff her, feeling like a creep, but he wanted to make sure.

_Yeah. Rain. Waterfalls. Trees and shrubs. And a slight trace of raspberry. _He names the things he smells in his head as they pass through his nose. He wonders why the little girl has a scent so broad and distinguished.

He just turns over and lays on his back, staring at the ceiling. Arabess' head rests on his left arm. He looks down at her again, seeing her chest jump. Her head jerks forward and Damon sits up, alarmed. He is whispering Bonnie's name. She's sound asleep.

Arabess' jerks again and again. Damon calls for Bonnie's name while pulling Arabess' body onto him. He sees her chest jump again and tries to think of what to do.

"Bonnie!" He yells and Arabess' eyes open in shock. She pukes up blood all over Damon's face. He pushes the girl off of him, trying to find something to wipe the blood off of him. While Arabess hacks in pain, Bonnie turns over awakening from what felt like a long and terrible sleep. When she sees Arabess she runs over to her, holding her.

"Arabess!" Bonnie yells. Arabess stops hacking and choking, but there is blood all over the floor and their mattress. Bonnie sighs and searches the room for a shirt or something to clean her up with. She finds a shirt and wipes Arabess' mouth.

Bonnie sees Arabess going on another guilt-trip, maybe even that cold place she usually reverts to. Bonnie shakes her head. She will not let that happen again. Ever.

"Hey, this isn't your fault. And everything is okay. We just needed to clean you up," Bonnie tells her. She holds up the bloody shirt to show Arabess. "See, you're all clean now."

Bonnie touches Arabess' face with her thumb. Arabess looks back at Damon. He's cleaning his face with a pair of pants. He turns and sees Arabess staring at him.

He sighs and kneels in front of her. "Bonnie's right, Arabess. Nothing to be scared about." Damon switches his eyes to Bonnie. "She's always right."

Bonnie picks Arabess up and walks her to where she was sleeping.

"Get some sleep," Bonnie says. Arabess stares at the floor, laying on her side, until she couldn't fight the sleep anymore. Bonnie didn't leave her until she closed her eyes. Damon walked up behind Bonnie, watching also.

"You want to come outside with me?" Damon asks. Bonnie waits a moment before standing up and following him. Luca is fast asleep on the sofa as they walk pass him and outside the cabin. Bonnie paces down the front of the house, then paces back. Damon observes her, his hands in his pocket. He looks away when she turns back around. The creepy situation that just unfolded in front of them is pounding in their minds like a drum. In a nonstop, agitating way. Bonnie shakes her hands out. A paranoia compromises her, feeding into her. She swallows as she paces back to Damon. He stops.

"What are you thinking about?" Damon asks.

Bonnie stares at him, his injured face still a fresh thing to her. She sees his healed eye look away from her, then back.

"Damon, is that going to happen to me?" Bonnie asks a fear rising in her voice that Damon felt the second she opened her mouth. "And what if she's not okay?"

Damon puts his hands on her shoulders, trying to calm her. "Bonnie, I really don't know. But you have got to keep your cool… don't let this small incident cloud your judgment."

Bonnie takes a deep breath in an attempt to soothe her fears. She nods.

"But Arabess, she must've had a horrible reaction to the meat… what if Luca didn't clean it right?"

"Yeah, I doubt it. He wouldn't dare put you in danger."

Bonnie sighs. Damon was right. She knew Luca was attracted to her in a way she couldn't reciprocate. He wouldn't do anything to hurt her.

"Plus, we don't know that much about that little girl… what she's capable of? We just have to really look out for her." Damon tells her.

"Where am I going to sleep?" Bonnie asks, stressed.

Damon sits down, against the cabin and takes his jacket off. He hands it out to Bonnie. She looks confused.

"You can sleep on my shoulder," Damon says. Bonnie waits for a smirk, a chuckle, or even the slightest semblance of a sarcastic tone… but he is serious. He lifts his head at her. "I'm serious, take it."

"Damon, I'm not sleeping on you," Bonnie says, visualizing it in her head.

"It's… not like that, Bonnie. You just need rest. When's the last time you got a full night's sleep?" Damon asks. Her eyes look up as she realizes she's been up for days. The food eased her lightheadedness, but she knew it was only going to come back. And if Damon wanted Bonnie to use him as a pillow, then why not?

"Alrighty, then." Bonnie clasps her hands together nervously and walks over to him. She grabs his jacket and puts it on, bending down next to him. Bonnie looks awkwardly at him as she inches towards him on her knees. She looks at the ground when he looks at her, but he noticed her looking at the last minute—feeling the uncomfortable aura the two create between each other.

Bonnie scoots closer to him, angling her head hesitantly. She, unknowingly, clutches his thigh to do it and she rests her head upon his shoulders.

"I'm sorry!" She hurriedly says.

"You are making this way more difficult than this has to be!" Damon says, chuckling.

"Where are you going to sleep?" Bonnie asks, staring down his chest.

"Vampires don't sleep," Damon replies, "Plus, Elena would want me to."

Bonnie lifts her head from his shoulder and glares at him.

"So, you're doing this for Elena? Being my pillow?" She asks.

"Yeah. And why are you looking at me like that! Why do you care?"

"Because I think it's idiotic how you can't do one rational, good thing…" She starts telling him in a tone relative to disdain, "even if it's as trivial as this…without it being because of Elena." She says.

Damon sighs and tries to think of something to say.

"Like why can't you just be a decent guy because you want to be?" She says, then starts to mock her in a voice exaggeratedly like his: "'I'll do it for Elena, I'm doing it for Elena'. It's so annoying and says a whole lot about the type of person you are."

There is a pause. Damon itches his head. Bonnie regrets saying what she did, thinking it a bit harsh. She begins to speak when Damon says this:

"Do note whose shoulder you are resting on." Bonnie shrugs. "And I do not sound that whiny!"

"You actually do."

"Whatever! Go to sleep!" Damon tells her. She doesn't say anything back, though he was hoping she would.

Damon puts his arm around Bonnie, bringing her in closer to him. He looks up, keeping watch while Bonnie slept in tranquility, her chest rising up and down giving life to a man who feels like he's lost it all.

The next day, Bonnie and Damon are at the beach, standing almost forty feet away from each other. They are facing each other and Bonnie is moving nervously, stretching and jumping around.

"Is all that really necessary?" Damon asks laughing at her. Damon agreed to help her explore her powers. She'd woken up early this morning, right when the cold night air blew westward.

"Yes," She replies, her stomach feeling like it's dropping to her knees. She fed Damon some more blood this morning, and though she's nervous, she has hope her blood will start to make a difference on his face.

"Okay. Give me something," Damon says, holding out his hands and motioning his fingers towards himself, basically signaling Bonnie to bring it.

Bonnie calms herself and closes her eyes, raising her arms in Damon's directions. His eye's narrow in anticipation. Any kind of movement Bonnie does, he'll be cautious of it. He exhales with a macho exterior, preparing himself for the inevitable.

_Shiiiiiiit._ He's thinking about how much powerful Bonnie could have gotten, and also wondering why he agreed to be a witches' punching bag. That's when he begin to hear a whistle in the wind. He looked around and saw small pebbles rising from the sand, going in circles around Damon. He stares at Bonnie, a little scared.

"Bonnie, what're you doing?" He asks her through his grinding teeth.

Bonnie opens her eyes and pushes her palms in Damon's direction. "You're my target," She says, lowering her chin and glaring at him. The pebbles rise higher around him, still in a circular fashion. One pebbles grazes his arm and it burns him. His grabs his arm and gives Bonnie an incriminating look.

"Bonnie!" He yells. She gasps and holds onto her heart, looking up at Damon with a smile. He shakes his head his face glazed with skepticism. "That kind of hurt."

"Damon, did you see that?" Bonnie says ignoring his recent sentiment. "And the feeling… Oh my god."

"So, you knew what you were doing that entire time?" Damon asks unsure of what to make of this last spell.

"Yeah. I had full control." That hit Damon like a train. The way she said it, with such poise and no regret— it kind of freaked him out. During the spell, she shot a look at him. A dangerous one.

"You know what you're doing?" Damon asks in curiosity. He knows this is only her second time meddling with her magic, but he doesn't want to die from it. And he doesn't want her to die.

"Yeah…" Bonnie says, blinking. She looks out at the ocean. Its limitless possibilities drawing her in. Then she looks back at Damon, cocking her head. "Why? Are you afraid?"

Damon shakes his head. "No. As a matter of fact, let's ask the judges!" Damon bends down and draws his name into the sand and then hers underneath. Bonnie sees and folds her arms, sighing.

"What are you doing?" She asks not in the mood to hear it, really. She just wants to practice again, to experience that feeling of unlimited dominance. It's her desideratum.

"The judges say," Damon says while he writes a '1' next to his name, "Damon wins!" He jumps in celebration, throwing both of his arms in the air. He stops suddenly, fatigue consuming him. He bends over and rests his hands on his knees, recuperating himself. He sees Bonnie's look— striking him with worry and grief. He hollers again. He's not trying to make this about him. About his pain. He won't.

He heaves through his breath and smirks at Bonnie, saying in a low voice: "Damon wins."

Bonnie glares at him, her eyes narrowing in confidence. "On what grounds?"

"The grounds that that spell of yours with the steaming hot gravel and floating and stuff?" He says while gesturing with his hands. Bonnie puts her hand up to her mouth, chuckling. "All that? That sucked." Damon tries to keep himself from laughing.

"Okay. Then that was round one," Bonnie says. "Here's round two."

Damon braces himself, cutting his eyes to the forest and back to her. Bonnie, this time, raises one hand at Damon. She feels multiple warm pulses in her arm; the feeling beginning at her shoulder and pulsating down to her palm. A black bubble emerges from her palm and grows to the size of a basketball. It floats towards Damon and he moves out of its path.

"Nuh uh! Get back there!" Bonnie demands.

"I will not die by the hands of Bonnie Bennett."

"It's not going to kill you… ass," Bonnie says. He sucks in his pride and stands back into the path. "At least I hope it won't," Bonnie says to herself. The slow, floating and mortifying bubble moves towards him. It doesn't float like usual bubbles. Its outer layer moves irregularly, like something is on the inside of it, boiling. And there is a faint yellow outline that can be seen if reflected at a good angle off the sun.

As it approaches Damon, his hands ball into fists and he stares at it, menacingly. He just reminds himself its Luca. Makes it easier to face it. The bubble touches Damon's chest and he screams in pain, falling to his knees. Bonnie sprints to him, placing her palm over the bubble. It retracts back into her palm.

"Damon, are you okay?!" Bonnie says. She starts apologizing over and over again and Damon stares at the sandy beach, a curled look on his face. He starts laughing. Bonnie stops talking when she hears him, wondering what he's doing. His laugh gets louder and he looks up at her.

"You should have seen your face!" He says through his hysterical laughs. Bonnie nods, smiling sarcastically, then angrily puts her foot into his chest. He slams back into the ground, his limbs spread out. Bonnie's angry face turns into shock. She had no idea how she did that.

Damon catches her off guard and uses his vampire speed to stand before her. He throws her to the ground. She opens her mouth in disgust.

He pounces on her but she puts one of her legs up and his stomach lands on it. She grabs his shoulders and puts her other foot into his stomach while simultaneously rolling back and kicking him away. He flips and lands on his side, quickly standing up. Bonnie runs at him, her fists in front of her.

"Oh, so were playing like this now?" Damon asks, surprised to see her wanting to spar.

"It's two to zero and I am not letting your ass win!" She throws a punch at him, but he catches it. She tries again, but he catches that one too. He smirks, chuckling with a hum.

Bonnie jumps up, her fists still in Damon's grasp, tucking in her legs and flipping. She throws her legs over Damon's shoulders. In a quick motion, she twists her legs and snaps his neck. She falls on her head as he falls onto the ground also. Bonnie covers her mouth in shock when she sees what she did.

_What the hell did I do?_ She thinks as she runs over to him, picking his head up and laying it on her lap. She checks his neck for any visible injuries, but sees nothing.

Moments later, Damon comes to. Bonnie clutches her heart and sighs, relieved.

"What the hell, BONNIE?" Damon asks in aggravation.

"I am so sorry… I don't even know how I did it," Bonnie tells him, still in shock herself. She's freaked out. She doesn't even know what she is anymore. A witch? Or… something more?

"You were… amazing," Damon says, looking at her like she's a butterfly fluttering along in an empty meadow. "Truly."

"Luca said that witches are different here, but… what's happening to me?" She asks Damon, her voice breaking from worry. She looks over and sees the panther cub again, moving its body in sordid sophistication. It charges for Damon. Bonnie jumps up and stands in front of Damon.

"No!" Bonnie yells at the panther. It's docile to her. The panther cub sits, its head rising to her and then bowing. She furrows her brow and looks back at Damon. He shrugs.

Bonnie didn't want to move. She'd gotten rid of it once, but this time it's different. The panther nudged her knee with its nose, looking up playfully at her. Her mouth begets a discreet smile, unseen by the passing eye. She swallows as it touches her again, getting closer.

Bonnie kneels down and Damon whispers to her, sitting up cautiously: "Bonnie, we need to go. I am going to—" She puts her hand up at him and he shuts up. Bonnie pets the panther and it rubs its head all around her hand and arm. Then it gets closer to her, rubbing its head on the side of her face and placing its paws on her shoulder.

"It likes me," Bonnie says, still petting it. She feels the whiskers on her face and laughs. Damon watches in complete disagreement. He's scared the wild thing will turn on her at any minute.

Moments pass and Bonnie and Damon stand up, staring at the panther. It circles Damon, sniffing him. Damon wanted to kick it away, but he knew Bonnie wouldn't want that. Bonnie bends down and pets the panther before they head back to the cabin. The panther cub sits, stoic and proud, as Bonnie and Damon walk back into the forest.

"I know this sounds crazy Damon, but I felt this connection to that panther. I didn't want to stop petting it…" Bonnie says as they walk through the forest. "It's like it was a long lost pet or something that I'd just reunited with... Badge."

"Who the hell is Badge?" Damon asks.

"My pet rabbit I had when I was younger. My Dad ran it over in the driveway."

Bonnie and Damon arrive back to the cabin and hear loud noises coming from within. They run in to see Luca pushing Ross against the wall with his magic while Ross bites and roars at him. He's trying to tackle him but can't get through the invisible force Luca has over him.

Arabess is in the corner by the bookshelf with her head in between her knees, covering her head. Damon runs over to console her. Bonnie screams at them to stop. They didn't listen. Damon, fed up, stands up and rushes over to Ross, pinning him up against a wall. And Bonnie forces Luca on the other side of the wall, with her magic.

"I don't want to hurt you, Bonnie!" Luca says, unable to move.

"Give up!" Bonnie says, holding her palm out towards him.

Ross is moving like a rabid animal in Damon's grasp, something in him stirring… whether it's the smell of Luca's blood or the Land of the Forgotten finally getting to him.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey!" Damon says in a calm voice. "Hey, hey! It's me." Ross looks Damon in the eyes and calms down, his eyes go back to human form and his fangs retract. Damon lets him go and meets with Bonnie, at the center of it all. They exchange looks.

"Now what the hell is—" Damon begins to say, but is interrupted by a stray man, showing up at the front door. He looks tired, restless, and drained… like a vampire.

"Ross?" The man says.

Ross looks towards the door and is speechless. His mouth drops. Water rushes into his eyes and his trembling hand covers his mouth. He turns around in disbelief.

"Oh my god," Ross says to himself. He turns back around and sees the man walking towards him. Each step the man took made Ross feel more vulnerable. The closer he got, the more susceptible he felt.

Damon touches Bonnie's shoulder and walks back to be with Arabess. Bonnie watches the interaction between Ross and this mystery man. Luca picks himself up and walks to Bonnie.

"Who is that?" He asks.

"I don't know," Bonnie replies, "But honestly, I wouldn't doubt if they were dating or something."

The man walks up to Ross and tries caressing his cheek, but Ross punches him in the face and he flies back, sliding across the floor.

"NO!" Ross exclaims. "YOU don't get to do that!" Ross screams through tears and a runny nose. The man looks over and sees Ross' duffle bag sitting on the table. He stands up and opens it. Ross tries to stop him, but the man already grabbed the scrapbook before Ross got to him.

"Ross, who is this?" Bonnie asks. Damon sits on the sofa with Arabess, waiting for Ross to answer.

"My ex. Thad," Ross says in a grim voice. He hates Thad. He hates him with every ounce of mobility left in his body, which is good. It gives him a rush and the horrible effects of his vampire abilities declining seem to not be anymore.

Thad holds the scrapbook like it's newfound treasure. He sits on the ground and opens it, looking at the photos of him and Ross, reminiscing.

"I remember when we created this," Thad says, his eyes a glowing texture. He looks up at Ross for an answer, but all he gets is a mean mug. "We were so young in our relationship…"

Bonnie turns around and walks to the sofa to sit. She pats Arabess on the lap.

"Are we watching Days of Our Lives or?" Damon says while he observes Ross and Thad. Luca sits on the arm rest next to Damon.

"He looks like he wants to kill him," Luca says. Damon looks at him, wondering if he was talking to him or Bonnie. He opens his mouth.

"Yeah…" Damon says.

"I was going to burn it," Ross says burning his eyes into Thad. Thad is hefty and big, but in a muscular way. He was one of those people that probably played football in high school. Thad points at a picture, smiling. It's him and Ross. Ross is wearing glasses and a waiter's outfit, holding a platter. Thad is standing inches away from him with a tuxedo on.

"You were so cute that day with your red dress shirt. It matched your red hair so…" Thad searches for a word, but instead just looks passionately dispersed in his own reality.

"I remember that day. I was your charity case! You didn't even look me in the eye."

"How was I supposed to? It was my parent's dinner after they renewed their vows!"

"You never cared about me, Thad!" Ross says, kicking the scrap book out of his way as he walks over to Thad. "After I became vampire your vilification of me only got harsher around your friends and family! Just because you're a witch!"

"Wait, you're a witch?" Bonnie asks. Thad looks down in shame.

"Yeah, he's a witch! And he was so gutless only to want me when it was convenient for him!" Ross is ready to attack him. But he contains his anger and walks away, picking up his scrap book and tossing it in the duffle bag. He turns back around to look at Thad.

"You need to leave. I don't know why you came all the way out here… but it's too late." Ross says, waiting impatiently for Thad to move. Thad just slowly stands up, putting his hands out in front of him to show Ross he means no harm.

"Ross… I need you." Thad says.

"And I needed you!" Ross pushes him towards the door. "So get out!"

Thad takes a deep breath, standing his ground. Ross pushes him again and again, until Thad is almost out of the door.

"ROSS!" Thad screams. Ross flinches and Damon stands up, walking towards Thad.

"He said leave," Damon tells him. "So leave…"

Damon glares at Thad, angling his head at him. Thad turns his gaze back to Ross.

Bonnie stands up and walks to the door also, standing next to Damon and Ross. She raises an eyebrow at Thad. Luca walks up to.

Thad chuckles. "I'm not a witch anymore, Ross. I was turned…" Thad says. Ross' lips part and he almost fell right into Thad's trap. He shakes his head.

"So?" Ross says.

"So, a witch took my humanity and she started the process immediately…" Thad tells him, fear ripping through his voice. Bonnie and Damon look at each other, remembering the heroic and sacrificial deal Damon did with Kaya in order for him to save Bonnie: giving his humanity up.

"I need your help to fight it…" Thad looks at Ross like he's ready to break. And Ross looks back, his sharp look and reluctant posture easing up.


	12. You And I

Ross looks at Bonnie, Damon, and Luca, nodding them away. Damon furrows his brow as Bonnie grabs his hand and drags him away.

"Thad," Ross says, his patience getting lower and lower. Actually, each time he looks Thad in his face he becomes more impatient and irritable by the second. "Are you testing me right now?" Ross says under his breath, narrowing his eyes at Thad. Thad shakes his head.

"I'm not," Thad replies. He sucks in his cheeks and looks at the floor, walking back in. Ross steps back as he walks in and Thad looks at him, angling his head. Ross looks away. "Do you still have the notebook?"

Ross glares at Thad, still unable to trust him. He believes he is a vampire, but if his humanity is stripping away is something only time will tell. Ross juts out his bottom jaw, a minimal surge in him wanting him to move.

Ross turns and walks towards the table, looking into his duffle bag.

"We need to talk," Bonnie whispers to Damon, watching Ross and Thad. Damon's lip quivers as her words replay in his mind. He is thinking the same thing. It's dark and imposing nuances filling the space between them. Bonnie blinks, rocking back and forth on her toes to her heels. Damon sighs, beginning to say something. He tightens up his mouth.

"Ross!" Damon calls for him. Ross freezes, turning his head to the side, listening. "Bonnie and I are going to go to the back…"

"Please, don't leave me alone with him. I might kill him," Ross replies.

"I don't care what you do. I'm just letting you know to remind you Arabess is in here. Be mindful of that."

Damon and Ross exchange understanding looks and he walks to the back. Bonnie follows quickly behind him. She follows Damon into the room and closes the door behind her. She doesn't turn around immediately though. She stares at the different shades of dark colors barely visible on the surface of the door. Bonnie and Damon have come a long way, overcoming obstacle after obstacle. Bonnie turns around, looking at Damon's backside. She hears a concealed sigh from his mouth. A frustrated utterance seeping through.

Damon inhales, opening his mouth wide, ready to speak on the situation: His impending doom. He turns around to face Bonnie, staring her in the eyes with a daring shock.

"I completely forgot about that," Damon says, his voice almost echoing in the destroyed room. He looks around, thinking of more to say, but he just bites the corner of his bottom lip. He feels the need to wreck the room into a new destruction: something that could reflect the way he's feeling.

"Me too, Damon," Bonnie replies and nods. Damon meets her eyes again and suddenly, he doesn't feel so angry anymore. He's still frustrated, and without a doubt confused, but there's something about Bonnie Bennett that bleeds sustenance. And he can't help but feel that within him.

"What are we going to do?" Damon asks. Bonnie shrugs. He spins back around and walks towards the wall, leaning on it. Bonnie sighs, walking over to him, slowly. A detriment moving away from him— a distress signal. Something. She feels it. All of his deprival emitting off of him and into Bonnie's watchful soul. Every step is like a testament to her tender heart that beats a welcoming rhythm, for the profound enmity that is Damon.

She presses a hand on his shoulder slowly, and he angles his head to the side. He blinks; his eyelashes curled up to the ceiling. She tugs on his shoulder, lightly, and he turns around willingly and their eyes converge in a warm lock.

"Bonnie…" Damon says, shaking his head. He swallows while his eyes widen in surprise. He's trying to hide his worry, but the uneasiness is too easy to perceive. Bonnie's making every attempt to comfort him, looking right into his eyes and seeing the pain, clear as day.

She lifts her chin, taking a deep breath. "We'll get through this, Damon…" Bonnie tells him. He stares at her, his apprehension growing. He waits for her to say something, or… do something. She turns from him and walks towards the window, stepping over the debris and clothes on the floor. In amazement, he turns and follows her. He's in undeniable shock that he was looking for Bonnie to make him feel better.

But is it all that shocking? There have been many instances where Bonnie put a light in his dark room. She grazed his life with a fire that only ignited the hope reigning in the deepest, darkest depths of his mind. It's like she always knew he was storing it somewhere, saving it. Waiting, until it was time to bring forth the hope that was always there. This could be one of those moments… Those beautiful moments where Damon—half-healed and broken as the trivial pain takes a toll in increments—can finally see a spark.

Bonnie looks out the window. Something on her mind that's knocking, asking for permission to be let in:

_What is this place, really? Grams said I'd be okay, but I want to cry. I want to break down… so badly. I just wish she was here to explain but she's dead. Dead and gone. I wish she was here. This can't be all this is. It just can't. Grams wouldn't bring me here. She said I'd be okay. And I'm not. I'm far from okay, I'm—_

Her thoughts stop when she feels Damon's presence behind her and his cold hand on her shoulder.

"You're shaking," Damon says, in a concerned voice. "Are you okay?"

Bonnie was going to turn around until she felt a rush of tears eager to fall. She sniffled, trying to make it as silent as possible. But Damon is a vampire, and though his abilities aren't at their greatest, he can still hear the slightest of sounds. Especially coming from someone he's grown to care about.

"Bonnie, we might be stuck here. It might be forever," Damon says, standing next to her to look out the window along with her. "But it doesn't matter, because stuck in the middle with you is right where I want to be."

Bonnie furrows her brow. "Why did you say that?"

"Did it make you feel better?" Damon asks. He doesn't even know what he said. He went on instinct and impulse. He said what he felt needed to be said.

Bonnie nods. It made her feel a little better, because she doesn't know if they'll ever get out of here. She misses her friends a lot. And she knows he misses the few he has. Though, if they don't ever find a way back: this existence, if it ever gets better, wouldn't be too flawed. It'd be imperfect. Their imperfect.

"This… humanity thing," Bonnie turns to look at him as she talks, "I think we should see if Ross finds a loophole… there's always a loophole to a spell, right?"

Damon nods, though still a bit skeptic. He rubs his chin as he watches a rabbit hop behind a tree.

"Should be, yeah," Damon replies, sighing. He walks away from the window, beginning to pace. He itches his head. "If a witch dies, the spell dies with it?"

"But witches are immortal. Who knows what other new rules there are here," Bonnie says. She turns to look at Damon, who kicks the mattress in front of him on the other side of the room.

"Maybe this is supposed to happen," Damon says, his voice low. He's starting give up and give in to the displeasure this world is feeding him. The Land of the Forgotten has turned displeasure into something in relation to happiness or satisfaction. The word, like witches and vampires, isn't synonymous with its meaning on earth.

Bonnie shakes her head sternly at Damon, marching towards him. "No! This isn't supposed to happen, Damon… None of this. This isn't fate."

"Then what is it? Because it smells, sounds, and feels a lot like it!" Bonnie starts to say something but Damon cuts her off. "I always knew I'd die like this… feeling helpless, useless, and detached from myself."

"You're not detached from yourself," Bonnie says. He drops his head, licking his lips.

"I am… And who are YOU to tell me who I am?" Damon says, his voice ripping, shredding the millions of moments Bonnie and Damon have shared together on this plane. Her face coils.

"Don't," She demands, pointing him in this face, "Don't do that, Damon. Don't act like I don't know you… just because you're pissed, doesn't always mean that everything and EVERYONE around you is pissed at you."

Damon swallows, clapping his hands together to calm his temper.

"This is happening by chance," Bonnie tells him. "So, we need to increase our odds in some way."

Damon shakes his head, perplexed. "By doing what exactly?"

"I don't know, but the simple fact that I said that is doing something. It's grasping on that thread of hope and hanging on for dear life, because that's all we've got."

Damon closes his eyes, feeling a headache for some odd reason and getting that cold chill again. It's not even cold in the cabin, but he's close to freezing. He folds his arms. Bonnie stares at the floor, looking at how bad of a job she did at cleaning up Arabess' blood.

"So, that's our plan?" Damon asks her. "To have hope? That'll all get better?"

"Yeah, because it feels like…" Bonnie's fixated on the mattress Damon kicked across the room, dissipating into her own. She shakes her head, unnoticeably. "…we're in war. A war in heaven."

Damon turns to look her, narrowing his eyes. He scoffs.

"You think this is heaven?" He says with an incredulous chuckle. He waits for her to answer, but a pause rests between them. And he sees her gaze fixated on something. He turns to look in the direction she is, but there's nothing that is too compelling.

Bonnie answers him after a moment: "No. I think its hell. But I always said," Bonnie turns her gaze to him. He turns to face her too. "Hell is someone's heaven. And if that's so, hell is going to be a war in heaven, if I were to ever go."

"And here you are," Damon says.

"And here I am," Bonnie replies, lifting her chin up at him and her eyes thinning out. Damon, unknowingly, moves his head closer to hers and tilts his head to the side. Bonnie moves in closer too, their eyes still connected.

Damon's eyes avert down and he takes a step back, putting his hands in his pocket. Bonnie sighs, a little aggravated. Damon looks back up at her smirking. She smiles, her eyes thinning again in quaint fascination.

"So, we came back here to make a plan?" Damon says to her. "What did we come up with exactly?"

"That we'd have hope Ross comes up with something?" Bonnie replies. Damon nods. "He's pretty smart."

"Brilliant. Even under a bunch of petty stress…" Bonnie's eyes widen.

"Are you throwing shade at Ross' shitty ex boyfriend?" Bonnie asks, a big smile coming upon her face. The gap between them shortens as she walks closer to him.

"If _shade_ is a bad thing then hell yeah. The guy seems like the worst," Damon replies, walking closer to her also.

"I mean, he has no respect for Ross. Clearly."

"Yeah, I don't think Ross should take him back. We should have kicked his ass clear out of this cabin."

"I second that," Bonnie says, chuckling.

"Then he's going to try to come back with this humanity bs? Ross isn't here for his bs."

"None of us are." Bonnie starts laughing, and Damon joins. They stop, suddenly as their eyes meet again. "I think we should get back now."

Damon nods, agreeing. Bonnie turns around and walks towards the door. She opens it, but Damon shuts it from behind her. She turns, his face inches away from hers.

"I just want to apologize about earlier. You do know me and I do know that. So, I'm sorry…" Damon tells her.

Bonnie inhales and exhales, her eyes averting from his lips to his eyes and back to his eyes. She nods, nervously.

"Apology accepted," Bonnie replies. Damon backs away, half-smiling. Bonnie turns back around and opens the door. They walk back into the living room.

Ross is sitting at the table with Thad. They're looking at a notebook. Damon and Bonnie walk up to them.

"He's still here?" Damon asks, glaring at Thad. Thad doesn't look up, he just continues going through the notebook. His eyes studying it. Ross looks up, a little ashamed.

"I'm sorry, but it's really happening to him," Ross says. "His humanity is slipping away at a rate that I don't even know if I can keep up with."

Ross looks back at Thad, whose eyes are still trained on the notebook.

"He looks fine to me!" Damon exclaims. Damon didn't like the guy, and rightfully so. He had his reasons.

"It's only the first stage, guys," Ross says, his face changing into a stressing concern. Bonnie and Damon exchange looks. She walks closer to the table and rests her hands on it.

"Stage? What do you mean?" Bonnie asks, staring at Ross.

"When a vampire's humanity is stripped by a witch— they go through five stages until they perish."

Bonnie turns around and looks at Damon, whose mouth is open in exasperation. She turns back around and urges Ross to keep explaining.

"Like I said, he's only on stage one… which is regression. Stage two is degeneration. Stage three is dissolution. Stage four is wrath, and the last stage… Perish. That's when they die."

"Well, how do you stop it?" Bonnie asks.

Ross gazes at Thad again, then dropping his head. He shuts his eyes to keep the tears inside. His lips pull apart as he gazes back up at Bonnie. Bonnie already knew the answer. It was written all over his face like a sobbing child.

"That's…" Ross begins to say, but stutters as his voice breaks, "That's what we're trying to figure out."

Bonnie nods, keeping her cool. She wants to tell Ross, but is waiting for the right time. And now, is not the time. She turns around and walks back to Damon, who rubs his hand over his head in reaction to the stressful situation.

"I think I need to go for a walk," Damon says, brushing past Bonnie. She runs to stop him, grabbing his fingers with hers. He turns around.

"Be careful," Bonnie makes sure to tell him before he leaves. He nods, sucking in his cheek. Bonnie lets his fingers go and he heads out of the cabin. She watches as he zooms into the forest.

"Bonnie," Arabess calls her from the sofa. Bonnie walks over and sits next to Arabess, who lies on Bonnie's lap.

"Tired?" Bonnie says with a chuckle. Arabess nods her head in Bonnie's lap, looking straight at the front door.

"Where did Damon go?" Arabess asks. Bonnie combs her fingers through Arabess' hair, glancing down at her.

"He just went for a quick walk," She tells Arabess.

"Oh. He'll be back?"

"Of course."

Bonnie sees a smile unveil on Arabess' face. The girl really loved Damon. Bonnie has yet to figure out why, but something about him entices her so much. She wonders if it's the same thing that has Bonnie so intertwined with him.

Luca sits next to Bonnie on the sofa and sighs.

"Wanna see something?" He asks Bonnie. Bonnie shrugs. She doesn't care what Luca has to show her, probably just something to do with magic. And as happy as Bonnie is to have her magic back, it doesn't mean she wants to delve into it all the time. Ever since she and Luca got their powers, it's the only thing he ever talks about. And killing vampires.

Luca places his palms out sideways, parallel from each other. Bonnie watches as his fingers move like flags in the wind. Arabess looks up also. Luca mutters something and electric charges flow in between his fingers. He smiles and turns to look at Bonnie.

Arabess gasps when she sees it. Her face grows in amazement. Luca stops his magic and puts his hands on his lap, glaring at Ross and Thad.

"So, what's going on with them?" Luca asks Bonnie.

"I don't know… he's losing his humanity or something," Bonnie looks over at Ross and Thad. Thad stands up from the table and grabs the scrapbook from the duffle bag. He sits on the ground and flips through it again, reliving memories he wishes he could do all over again. Bonnie taps Arabess on her shoulder, asking her to get up for a quick second. And she walks over to where Ross is, sitting next to him.

He's reading his notes. Bonnie looks on with him, seeing the words: "Stage One: Regression" at the top. He sees her looking.

"You want me to explain all this to you?" Ross asks her. Ross hopes she says yes so he doesn't have to think about Thad and his soon to be death. He just wants to reread his notes until he finds a cure. Or finds a loophole.

"Yeah," Bonnie replies. He closes his notebook and shows her the title.

"I call the entire process of a vampire being stripped of their humanity," Ross starts to tell her, and then he puts a finger on the title, "Reduction."

The word, or maybe it's the way he says it, instills in Bonnie an uncontrolled fear. A loss. A loneliness. She repositions herself in the chair in an attempt to prepare herself for what's to come. To what horror her blooming friend—Damon— has to suffer through.

As the day passes into evening, Damon finds himself in a part of the forest unknown to him. He rips a piece of his jeans' fabric off and hooks it on a tree. He's been doing that since he left the cabin, so he has a way back.

Damon walks along the forest, his hands tucked deep into his jacket pockets. The grey clouds block the sun and blue skies, bringing down a gloominess upon the forest. It's eerie, but Damon likes it. The bluish-white haziness beaming down from the distance, creating a nightmarish-like picture in the middle of the day. The trees look wicked, skinny, and long. They're dark and have no leaves. There are no leaves anywhere, not in the trees and not on the ground Damon walks on. He shifts his head to the left, quick, seeing two bodies on the ground. Their hands clasped with each other's.

_Vampires._ He thinks. _They must have died together…_ Damon eyes downcast slowly. It reminded him of Elena. Their suicide together. Even though Elena forced herself into it, Damon understood that. He respected it. He didn't like it, but it was her decision. Their situation probably contrasts with this one.

Damon takes another step closer, seeing a tree a foot behind them. He sees a shape drawn on it and walks closer to see it. It had the two vampire's initials and a heart around it. Damon puts his hand on it. It lightly drags down the tree bark.

He wonders if Bonnie wasn't the anchor and in some illogical and unjustifiable world would he still have died with Elena. If that were his only choice to save the town he loved. Why his mind would think like this bewilders him. But as he looks at the two vampires bodies, he can't help but think he might've had a choice… because these vampires, they didn't have a choice. Their death was signed from the beginning because they are vampire.

He tears a piece of fabric off again and hooks it in the middle of the heart. He walks past the tree, looking ahead and seeing small valleys and hills.

He keeps trudging on, exploring the forest. It's making him feel a little better, doing this. Less angry. He just wanted a little bit of time alone from everyone.

He hears the sound of voices. Growls. It doesn't faze him though. He knows it's just rabid vampires running wild and hungry. He can handle them. The voices fade after awhile anyway.

He sits against a tree, his legs stretched out in front of him. The silent aura surrounding him was getting to him, and he was more tired than he's ever been. He turns his head to the side and stares at the black dirt. His eyes shut slowly as he gives in to the sleepiness suddenly taking control.

Back at the cabin, Ross is still explaining the process of a vampire losing their humanity in his notebook 'Reduction' to Bonnie.

"A vampire first runs to the person they've loved so immensely, and so intensely," Ross explains to Bonnie, in relation to stage one of reduction: regression. She nods, probably not going to forgive herself for wondering who Damon would run to… or if Damon would run to her. It seems far-fetched. But, she's smart enough to know love is about growth. Development. She can differentiate between love and lust.

Ross continues, "It's also the same person that can elicit that amount of hate too," Ross shakes his head. "It's a confounding process."

Ross points to Thad, he's still looking through the scrapbook full of pictures of him and Ross. He's showing Arabess, who's interested in just about anything at the moment.

"They also reminisce about the memories they had with the person. It's like they feel as if—"

"Those memories are going to go away," Bonnie interrupts him, quickly. "They do actually, don't they?"

Ross nods, tightening his lips to hold back tears once again. He is tired of crying and shedding tears for someone who he thinks would never do the same back.

"I'm going to see if he's doing alright. He is fine, but sometimes they drift into some imaginative world and it's hard to pull them back." Ross sighs and stands up, pushing himself off the table. His hand slips and he collapses, but Bonnie catches him.

"Are you okay?" Bonnie asks, helping him stand. He nods, but she knows he's not. And his ex-boyfriend being here isn't helping none either.

Bonnie looks over the notes about regression. She commends Ross for taking his time to do this, because even though he doesn't know it yet, he's helping Bonnie and Damon out extremely.

"You guys are… boyfriend and boyfriend?" Arabess asks, locked in bewilderment. Ross and Thad look at each other. Thad is smiling bright, but Ross is glaring with his mouth open, not sure what to say. Thad says "Yes", while Ross says "No" at the exact same time.

"No," Ross says, turning his gaze to Arabess. "We were but…" Ross sighs, deciding not to tell her.

"But why?" Arabess asks.

"Because I was…" Thad speaks before Ross could, looking at him, "Scared. I didn't know how to tell my parents I was in a relationship with him. A boy. And a vampire. I was a coward."

Ross and Thad stare into each other's eyes. Arabess looks on, still a little confused. She narrows her eyes at them. Ross sucks in his bottom lip and looks away. He clears his throat.

"How are you feeling?" Ross asks, attempting to change the subject. Thad puts his thumb and index finger on Ross' chin, turning his head to face him. Ross slaps it away. "Just keep sifting through your memories, cause that's all we are now."

Ross stands up and sits next to Bonnie again.

"How's he doing?" Bonnie asks. Ross folds his arms and beams his eyes at Thad.

"He's fine." Ross says.

An hour later, Bonnie is still studying Ross' notes. She finds his strange but stylistic writing style captivating. But also his well-thought scribbles across the pages seem to keep her interested. The lingering fact about Damon's reduction happening is keeping her eyes glued to the pages too.

_Where is Damon?_ She thinks.

The sun's almost made its way down. She looks up and sees Luca walking out of the cabin. She calls for his name.

"What's up?" Luca says, stopping at the front door. Bonnie runs over to him.

"Damon hasn't come back yet," Bonnie tells him. She sees an irritated look melt into his eyes when she says 'Damon'. At the point, she knew Luca wouldn't be of no help.

"And?" Luca says back to her in a snarky tone.

"And what if he's in danger?" Bonnie replies. Luca sighs and puts his hand on Bonnie's shoulder. He licks his lips, staring into the distance through the front door.

"Trust me. Damon is okay," Luca attempts to comfort her. He sees her shaken presence and the indiscernible stir beneath her calm eyes. He doesn't want to see her like this. Damon doesn't want to see her like this. Luca just wants her to know he's okay.

"Fine. But where are you going?"

"To work on my power," Luca says while a villain-like grin grows on his mouth. "I'll just be behind the cabin. I won't go far, I promise."

Luca looked in Bonnie's eyes and perceived a worriedness, a caring look breached with intimate feelings. He leans in to her. Bonnie averts her eyes to the side, then back to him and sees his eyes closed. He pecks her on the cheek and steps back, chuckling nervously. He drops his head and looks back up at Bonnie.

She nods. "Luca…" She says his name, looking into his amazed eyes, preparing to devastate them. But she bites her tongue. Luca walks out of the cabin and Bonnie wipes her cheek off. His lips were dry and chapped; giving the complete opposite reaction Luca was expecting.

Bonnie walks back to the table, studying the notes again. She reads a bulletin point that read: "In regression, needs constant assistance and guidance. Be on alert."

Bonnie narrows her eyes wondering what that could mean. Ross sits down next to her after talking to Thad a bit. He looks on with her, watching her finger as it glides across the pages as she reads along.

Ross reads the line: "Episodes of suicidal tendencies connected to losing memories." Bonnie looks up at him with a grave look. Her mouth slowly parting. Ross looks back at her, a bit confused. His mouth twitches as the corners of his lips stretch a bit.

"Bonnie, is there something you want to tell me?" Ross asks. Her eyes thinned, screaming yes, but she tightens her lips and says:

"No. I'm just amazed at how well-thought out these notes are." Her eyes drift back down to the pages and pages of notes on the first stage of reduction: regression. She can feel Ross' eyes burning at her, but she continues to pretend like nothing is wrong.

"The blaming theory?" Bonnie reads this. It had a box around it with an asterisk next to it. She figured it is significant.

"Yeah. During regression, the victim begins to live in both their reality and our reality," Ross starts to explain. He turns his gaze to Ross, swallowing. Bonnie looks on also. "It's a theory on how we, in our reality, propagate the authenticity of their reality."

"And their reality being the memories in their head?"

"Exactly. As the stage progresses on, their memories become vivid, corporeal… to them. What they hear, see, smell… they can relate them to memories in even the most ridiculous ways."

Ross stands up, watchful, as Thad stands. He walks to Arabess who is reading through the books that Damon recommended to her. Ross walks around the table, following Thad, and urging him to sit down. But Thad wouldn't. He sits in front of Arabess, a glimmer in his eyes.

"Hi, Nadeen," Thad says to Arabess. Bonnie's head shifts to Ross.

"Who is Nadeen?" Bonnie asks. Ross sits on the sofa, looking back at Bonnie. He clasps hand together and his fingers fidget while interlocked.

"It's his little sister," Ross says. He scoots closer to Thad and Arabess, touching Thad on the shoulder. Thad turns and looks at Ross. His face glowing.

"My name is Arabess," Arabess says, sitting the book titled "The Unfiltered Voices for Women's Rights" down. Thad glares at Arabess while his fangs elongate. The infuriation rose in him like a boiling pot. Arabess jumps back, scared out of her mind. Bonnie stands up and runs to them, ready to attack but Ross stands in her way.

"Bonnie, wait!" Ross screams at her, his arms stretched.

The wind howls. It moved its way into the warm cabin, filling the fiery air with an ice cold breeze. Ross' broad eyes spoke to Bonnie— she believes him when he told her to wait. To not attack. Her instincts tell her to go at him anyway, but she doesn't listen. Because she wants to believe in something different for a change.

The winds loud and persistent howl absorbed the cabin from inch to inch. Ross slowly lowers one of his hands down towards Thad, keeping one up to signal Bonnie not to do anything. That he has it under control.

Bonnie tries to bring her breath to a steadiness, so she can eliminate the thought of giving Thad a deadly aneurism from her mind. She sees Arabess' face as Ross starts to bend his knees, whispering things she couldn't quite hear into Thad's ear. Her face is frozen with fear and terror.

Bonnie sees Arabess' eyes shift to the doorway.

Arabess looks back at Thad and her lips shake. She wishes Damon were here to protect her. Bonnie sees her face begin to crumble into a sob and she walks towards her.

"No!" Ross screams. Thad raises his hand, almost the size of Arabess' small head, and he strikes across her face leaving a clean, red mark of his palm. Arabess slams to the floor and clutches her face, lying there, silently sobbing.

Bonnie raises her hand in front of her, lowering her chin. She narrows her eyes, glaring at Thad. He grabs his head and shrieks in pain. Bonnie motions her hand towards the door and Thad rolls out of it.

"Bonnie!" Ross continuously screams, following her out of the cabin. Ross stops her and turns her around. "Bonnie, please! Don't hurt him!" Ross begs her not to hurt him. Bonnie didn't flinch a change. She didn't even blink the face of the remorseful. She stares at Ross, unchanged.

"He hit her," Bonnie says, putting emphasis on the 'hit'. She wanted to make sure Ross understood. The power she feels flow through her bones right now, it's different. "Now I'm going to hit him."

She turns her blazing gaze back to Thad. Thad rolls on the ground, holding his head. Even while she talked with Ross for a spell, she still managed to exert her power. That's the kind of magic she has running inside of her. It feels obtrusive, which contrasts with how well she's inviting it in. Its power is abusive and unforgiving— Bonnie can feel the unrelenting source of it fading away.

As she increases the pain and force on Thad, walking closer to him, she doesn't care that it's fading. Thad's head turns to the side, in a quick force, a red hand appears on his face. He screams as he feels the same sting Arabess is still trembling from.

"Okay, Bonnie. He's had enough!" Ross says, trying to make her stop. Ross runs up to her and shakes her, but she doesn't see him. He steps back, stumbling.

She's letting this place get ahold of her, just as Damon is. This place is turning them into the supernatural beings they are to be in the Land of the Forgotten.

Damon, miles away in a disturbed part of the forest, sits in a tree staring menacingly at a couple of lost vampires. They're traveling the forest alone, talking with each other, and scanning the area around them carefully.

Damon growls and hisses. The two vampires stop. One of them grabs at his girlfriend's sweaty hands. Damon drops from the tree and stares at them, his fangs retracting as he sees an uncanny picture: Him and Elena. He drops his mouth in awe.

Bonnie, staring death in the eyes as it looks right back at her, ignites an outline of fire on the red mark of a palm on Thad's face. He screams as the fire ignites in the shape of a hand. Ross runs to Thad, holding onto him.

"Thad, hold on. Just hold on," Ross cries to Thad. He shakes his head as he talks, "Please, you can get through this!"

Bonnie steps closer, releasing her anger, gaining a deeper but perilous bond with her power, and ripping the flames even further into Thad's skin.

Damon continues his chase, his spiral into the vampire masses of the here and now. He stares at himself, the vampire holding onto the girl. Elena. The girl runs and Damon runs at the boy, tackling and throwing him into a tree. Then he chases after Elena.

She's fast and agile, but not fast enough. Damon catches up to her, yanking her by her hair and throwing her to the ground. He climbs on top of her and opens his mouth to bite her, but stops. He realizes the girl is not Elena and the boy, was not him.

Bonnie lowers her hand as her inner self, the altruistic; the mentality of the courageous stems through the violent manipulation of her power. She sees the pain she's caused as Thad belts repetitively how sorry he is.

"I'm sorry," He sobs in Ross' arms. Ross rubs his hair, nodding his head. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry, Ross! I'm sorry about everything, Ross…"

Thad starts convulsing into a sob. Ross' eyes fill with water and he looks at Bonnie. She's in shock, knowing all of what she did and how good it felt. Ross shakes his head and looks back down at Thad. Bonnie didn't know what to say, she just turned towards the cabin with her eyes wide and her mouth agape.

_Witches here… _Bonnie thinks.

_Witches here don't care about anyone else but themselves._

Bonnie steps into the cabin, holding onto the door with both hands. She stares at the ground, swallowing. Then she looks over at Arabess and her eyes expand.

"Arabess!" Bonnie runs over, grabbing her and hugging her. "Are you okay?"

Arabess still feels the indescribable sting of the slap on her face. She's been crying. Her eyes are swollen and red. Dry tear marks run down her face. Bonnie looks and wipes the area under her eyes with her thumb. Arabess looks up at Bonnie, then looks away, closing her eyes, and hiding her face.

"Run!" Damon tells the girl. She looked nothing like Elena. And the other vampire, he didn't resemble Damon one bit. Damon didn't know why his mind tricked him in that way. And he didn't know why he was acting the way he was. Like…

_It's happening… Kaya started the process._ Damon can only think of that as the only explanation… unless who he really is supposed to be, which is a rabid vampire in the Land of the Forgotten, is trying to break into him.

The girl stands up and runs away as Damon collapses onto the ground. He rolls over and lays on his back. Thinking of how he can stop it from happening again… and maybe the only way to do that is being with Bonnie. He sits up, deciding to go back to the cabin. This freaky part of the forest is enough for one day.

Back at the cabin, Luca walked around to the front of the cabin. He sees Ross holding Thad in his arms, as Thad cries to Ross in apologies. Luca rolls his eyes and keeps walking. He takes a peek inside of the cabin and sees Bonnie and Arabess. They are lying on the sofa. Bonnie is awoke and Arabess is sleep. Luca walks in, and Bonnie looks at him like she wants to cry.

"Something happened," Bonnie starts to tell him, feeling herself breaking down. Luca walks over to her and kneels, his eyes tentative on Bonnie's lips as they shudder. "I almost killed Thad."

Luca almost replies in a sarcastic tone or a callous remark, but he knows he should choose his words wisely. And right now, he leave his beliefs behind and tells Bonnie what she wants to hear.

"How did you do that?" Luca replies, softly and almost whispered. Bonnie is surprised by his remark. She didn't think he'd sound caring, or even want to. But he did. She only told him in the first place about it because she needed to get it off her chest, and fast.

"My power…" Bonnie says, almost losing her breath. She can't even talk about her magic without feeling like a horrible person. "My magic got out of control. Dangerous. And cruel."

Luca nods. "I can help you get that control. I've been practicing a lot. I still want to show you so much."

Bonnie shakes her head. Luca becomes disheartened at how negative she is about her magic. He can see it has so much potential.

"Uh uh. It made me forget about everything going on around me," Bonnie says to him. He itches his eye, a little upset. "Arabess was in here hurt and all I cared about was obliterating that vampire. He did hurt Arabess. Badly. So maybe, he deserved some of it. But I was going to kill him. And I was going to LIKE it."

Bonnie stares Luca in the eyes, the motionless water seeping through hers.

"I liked what I was doing to him, Luca," Bonnie says, shaking her head. She vows to never let her magic get her to that place again. Even if that means she won't practice anymore. "I'm not interested in my power or being a witch until I learn self-control."

Luca nods, respecting what she said. He stands up, knowing that he's not changing her mind. She's stubborn, but she's also scared. She's terrified of what she can do, and if Luca can't understand anything, he can at least understand that.

He returns to the backside of the cabin. He lifts his arms up to the air and closes them, his magic consuming him. Words in black appear all over his body, like tattoos, and he looks at them on his arms, legs, hands, and chest. He smiles. It reminds him of his old cookbook, filled with recipes.

It feels the same, except the recipes are spells and the cookbook is himself.

Ross knocks on the door to the cabin. Bonnie looks up at him and smiles, weakly. He waves, looking back at Thad, who's talking to himself. Ross walks in.

"Bonnie… I am so sorry," Ross begins to explain. Bonnie furrows her brow in anger and perplexity. "I should've known he'd react that way."

"Why are you sorry, Ross?" Bonnie asks, she sits up, being gentle with Arabess asleep on her. "I almost destroyed the one person you loved. I'm the one that should be sorry."

"It's not your fault, Bonnie," Ross says to her. Bonnie wonders what he means by that, her eyes averting to the bookcase and back to him.

"Well, if it's not my fault then it wasn't yours either… I'm sorry, Ross. I truly am. I just couldn't get a grasp on my powers. I was so consumed by it—"

"Hey," Ross interrupts her, walking closer to her. His voice is calm and compassionate. "I forgive you. Because you didn't kill him, Bonnie, you had control."

Bonnie didn't think of it that way. She didn't know how she stopped herself, but she did. Maybe, if she can figure out how she did, then she'll start working towards mastering that. But until then, she'll give magic a rest for a while.

"I wanted to tell you why Thad did that…" Ross tells her.

"Was it apart of his memory?"

"Yeah. Nadeen was his little sister… they didn't really get along."

Bonnie nods, but is still confused by why Thad had attacked Arabess. She didn't bother asking about it though. Ross stood up and patted Bonnie on the shoulder, leaving to check on Thad. Bonnie leans her head onto the pillow of the sofa and closes her eyes, falling asleep along with Arabess.

That night, Damon stepped foot into the forest he knew too well. The wind chilled his skin and he zips his jacket up, folding his arms. He finds a nice place to lay for the night, deciding to continue his trek back to the cabin in the morning.

He curls his body up in the cold and shuts his eyes to sleep.

The next day, Bonnie opened her eyes. She sits up, realizing Arabess isn't anywhere around. She stands up and walks to the back, checking the bathroom and bedroom. She isn't in there. Bonnie walks outside and sighs, relieved. She sees Arabess and Damon, walking hand in hand, together towards the cabin. Damon smirked at Bonnie as their eyes met. Bonnie is so happy to see him. After the trouble she caused yesterday, seeing Damon brought on the brightest smile across her face.

Though, as soon as she did smile, she stopped to try and hide her enthusiasm of finally seeing him again.

Arabess looks up at Damon, smiling too. She's excited to have reunited them again.

"Miss me or something?" Damon says to her. He figured Bonnie wouldn't say it, but she missed him just as much as he missed her. And he learned a lot about himself while alone. He started to regret it, but it helped him see more clearly. He knows why he envisioned himself and Elena.

"Not really," Bonnie replies, cocking her head to the side. She smiles, chuckling, then she stops. Her eyes grow wary as she can see her blood working on Damon's injuries. She sees some changes right before her eyes. His right eye isn't swollen anymore, and it's iris way more distinct now. The redness and blisters are beginning to heal on his body too. There are less of those. His hair is growing back, slowly but that's normal. Knowing this is all happening, makes Bonnie think it will all be okay.

All that is visible is a small scar above his right eye. Other than that, he's back. And all Bonnie can do is smile.

Damon stands in front of Bonnie, wanting to cup her cheeks in his hands. He looks at her like he's never seen her before. Like she's a rare find.

_A rare find_. Damon thinks.

"Did you ever think about how rare you are, Bonnie?" Damon asks her. Bonnie looks at him in shock, not sure if he's complimenting her or something else. She can never tell with Damon. Damon looks down at Arabess. "Isn't she a rare find?"

"Mhmm," Arabess agrees. Bonnie narrows her eyes at the both of them, wondering if they planned this.

"What're you talking about, Damon?" Bonnie asks. Damon grins again.

"Your name. Bonnie. You don't find many girls named that these days… A rare find."

Bonnie wanted to believe it was all calculated and planned, but the way Damon communicated it. His quiet body language and charming delicacy with words, it seemed very honest. The words left his mouth like how the strings on a violin reverberate, emphatic and heavy at first, but then all at once, in its ending, a slow whisper.

"You probably need more blood," Bonnie suggested.

"Yeah," Damon agrees. Bonnie turns around and walks back to the cabin, Damon and Arabess following. Damon picks Arabess and throws her on his back, giving her a piggyback ride. The three of them walk into the cabin and Luca is sitting on the sofa. He stands when the three of them walk in.

"Hey," Luca says to them. He tucks his hands in his pockets. "See, I told you he'd be fine."

Luca walks pass them and out the cabin, a little upset.

"What's his problem?" Damon asks. Bonnie shakes her head, walking to sit on the sofa. Damon puts Arabess down and sits next to Bonnie. They watch Arabess as she picks up the book she was reading earlier.

"Awh, look at our little…" The words just started pouring out of Damon's mouth. He looked at Bonnie in content. And she stared back…

"Mink," Bonnie says. Damon smiles and looks back at Arabess.

"Look at our little mink— the smartest girl in the world!" Damon says. "And if anybody wants to dispute that, they'll have to go through me first."

Arabess opens her book and feels her stomach growl. She holds onto it, discreetly, not alarming Bonnie and Damon. She didn't want to ruin this moment by making it all about her. So, she hid her hunger pains. She's been maniacally hungry since the night she puked blood. Ever since then, her skin has been crawling to get ahold of something good. The raccoon tasted so good to her, but for some reason she had a bad reaction to it. She clenches her teeth together, her eyes looking up at Bonnie and Damon.

They were laughing, talking with each other. The pain subsided and she let go of her stomach. She focuses back on her book to try and not think of it.

"I thought I was going crazy… I thought seeing Elena and myself was a part of me losing my humanity," Damon tells her.

"No, that's far from it. But," Bonnie replies, "Whatever was going on with you… sounds like something serious."

"I don't know. This might sound kind of lame, but I think it's because I'm moving on. These physical changes aren't the only changes that I've experienced…"

Bonnie could relate. She is changing too, but in a good way.

"I don't think that's lame, Damon," Bonnie says.

"Where's uh, where's Ross?" Damon asks. Bonnie shrugs.

"I don't know. I woke up and they weren't here."

Damon nods. "How's Thad doing?" He asks. Bonnie turns her head away from him, thinking of a way to tell him about the situation. It wasn't about her magic or her almost killing Thad, but from what those stemmed from. Thad hitting Arabess.

"I almost killed him," Bonnie says. She just lets the words fall out of her mouth, no restraint. Damon is in shock, initially, but his face calms to a more attentive look. He knows Bonnie is strong. He just listens.

"It was crazy. I got control of my power at the last second…" Bonnie contemplates telling Damon how she really felt. How she wanted to kill him, but she didn't know how he'd take it. She withheld it.

"Is that why they left?"

"I don't know why they left."

"What happen to make you almost kill him?" Damon asks. Bonnie sighs, looking at Damon. She runs her hand through her hair, pushing it back.

"He…" She looks away from him, pausing. She can already feel him retaliating. Damon leans into her, feeling anxious. She turns and looks back at him, his nose flaring up. "Hit Arabess."

"He did what?" Damon says, his eyes narrowing. He stands up and paces away from Bonnie. Bonnie could feel it in his voice. This defensiveness to it. Thad disrespected Damon by hitting Arabess. And that's exactly what Damon felt. Irreverence.

He paces back to Bonnie, folding his arms. "You should have killed him then," Damon says in a swift and hardened voice, his eyes bulging out his head. He unfolds his arms and paces away, rubbing the light stubble on his chin.

Bonnie stands up, "I wanted to… the power that I had? I liked it." She waits for a response from Damon. But he just stands there, pacing animatedly like he couldn't stop moving. "Damon."

"What?" Damon turns around.

"What're you going to do?" Bonnie asks him. He shrugs, but they both know that he already made his decision.

"I'm going to break off both of his hands, so he can't go around slapping little girl's anymore."

"That's not going to solve anything."

"It will in my book."

"No. It's not because his humanity is fading, Damon. There's just a lot you need to know before doing something like that."

"I don't care."

"And Ross? He wants us to help him figure this out, you know? And maybe, it'll help us…"

Damon shakes his head, not listening to a thing Bonnie is saying. Her eyes are steady on him but he's looking somewhere else. At Arabess.

"I don't care." Damon tells Bonnie, inches from her face. He walks past her to check on Arabess. Bonnie looks up into the corner of the room out of annoyance.

"Damon," Bonnie says to herself as she bites the inside of her cheek. She turns around to him and Arabess.

Damon touches Arabess' cheek softly while she reads. He gets angry for not noticing the redness of her face before.

"How come you didn't tell me?" Damon asks Arabess, his voice changing to a lighter tone. He puts a little pressure on her cheek. "Does this hurt?"

Arabess nods, feeling a wince of pain. "Yes," Arabess says.

"Why didn't you tell me what happened?" Damon asks again. Arabess starts to feel a little guilty about not doing it. She sits her book down and looks up at Damon.

"Because I was feeling fine," Arabess replies. Her bottom lip sticks out as her face turns into a slight frown.

"Nah, forget that. I expect it from her," Damon throws his hand up behind him at Bonnie. She shakes her head. "But you? I thought we tell each other everything?"

Damon touches her cheek again, massaging it. Arabess puts her hand over his.

"Come here," Damon says, pulling her head into his chest. "Next time you let me know when someone hits you. Especially, some dude. A grown dude at that." Damon pulls her head away, his hands on both sides of her head. "Alright?"

Arabess nods and he hugs her again, messing up her hair. Bonnie chuckles to herself, sitting on the sofa. Damon stands up and sits next to Bonnie, sighing.

"I'm still fuming," Damon says, his leg bouncing in angst.

"We need him alive, Damon. If he dies, we'll never know if we can save you," Bonnie replies. She sits her hand on his that is resting on his lap, staring at him. His leg stops bouncing when he feels her touch. "And trust me, I need to know."

Later that night, Ross walks in with Thad and Damon stands, his hands balling into fists. He mugs Thad and Thad sighs frustrated, shaking his head.

"What do you want?" Thad says to Damon. Damon walks up to him, glaring.

"You hit Arabess," Damon says to him.

"You ruined my life, Dad!" Thad yells at him. Damon stops walking and turns back, looking at Bonnie. She walks up to him and stands beside him.

"And YOU!" Thad blares at Bonnie. "You're supposed to be my mother. You're supposed to be some giver… but all you did was take!"

Bonnie and Damon look at each other, awkwardly, not sure what to do. Thad glares at Arabess and stomps towards her.

"Nadeen!" He screams as his fangs elongate and his eyes turn red. Damon steps in front of Arabess, pointing a finger at Thad.

"Not another step…" Damon says to him, talking through his teeth. Arabess stands behind Damon, peeking around his leg at Thad, a look of horror on her face. Damon and Arabess walk back over to Bonnie, keeping an eye of Thad. He's still staring at them, the meanest look stretched across his face.

Thad looks at Ross and his face softens up. He runs to him.

"I just wanted to be with you… that's all!" Thad yells. Damon looks over at Bonnie while Thad is talking to Ross.

"What the hell is happening?" He says to her while staring at Thad.

"It's part of the first stage… he's reliving memories in his mind. That's how Arabess got hit cause he thought he was his little sister."

"He used to hit his little—" Damon gets steamed over that information, the pitch in his voice raising a bit. He calms himself though. "Well, if he comes near Arabess again, I'm going to think of him as a punching bag."

Thad turns around to Bonnie, Damon, and Arabess yelling and shouting, while throwing his hands in the air. Ross walks up to comfort him but Thad pushes him away and he stumbles into the table.

Damon grabs onto Arabess and Bonnie off instinct, holding them behind him.

"Because of your prejudices and hate for me. For who I was, I am dying… right before your eyes! All those little trips to the ice cream parlor when I was younger and that little BRAT wasn't born yet… all those trips… you told me to always fight for who I was. You hypocrites."

Damon shrugs, responding to Thad. "We're sorry, Thad," Damon says. He thought hard— _very freaking hard_— about killing Thad. Look at the shape he's in. Plus, he hit Arabess. He deserved to die. But Damon knows he can't kill him. They need him. And Ross.

So, he thought of the opposite of killing him. Saving him.

Thad's mouth drops. Damon nudges Bonnie and she looks at him like he's crazy. Damon whispers something to her and she says something back, making Damon's eyes expand. He delivers something sarcastic, smiling back at Thad, and she, with a chilling stare, says something back that makes him turn to face her.

"We are very sorry, Thad," Bonnie says. "We treated you like a child. We tried to control you. We gave you no freedom."

"We stopped you from having the most consumable, most fascinating love. A love that can go on for miles and miles, with no end."

Damon and Bonnie look at each other, that everlasting alliance between the two becoming stronger as they hold hands and interlock their fingers. Those were their words, their feelings. They weren't pretending to be Thad's parents, which was the idea. They were pretending to be HOME. They didn't realize it when the words fell out of their mouths, only after when their eyes met.

"Very sorry," Arabess says, stepping out from behind Damon's leg.

Ross hugs Thad from behind and he sobs in his arms.

Arabess points to the door, seeing something. "Look!"

Bonnie and Damon walk to the door and see a tree on fire. The tree was big, and so the fire blazed far and wide. They both ran outside to see Luca standing in front of it. The fire would have started a forest fire in reality, but since Luca's controlling it, it stayed on the tree.

The fire's color of orange and red changed to a purple as Bonnie and Damon walked out. They walk up to the fire and stand next to Luca. He's holding a stick with a dead snake on it.

"Guess were having snakes tonight?" Bonnie chuckles. Luca nods.

"Is all this necessary though?" Damon asks.

"Yes. Yes, actually it is," Luca says, smiling at them.

Arabess stands in between Bonnie and Damon, amazed at the fire. It changes to a different color as she looks at it. Green. The tips of the fire are the color yellow.

"This is so cool!" Arabess exclaims, jumping. Damon jumps with her and Bonnie laughs at the two.

Thad walks out of the cabin mesmerized by the fire too. He can smell the sweet jasmine emanating off of it. It relaxed him. He walked closer to the fire, standing next to Bonnie. She notices he keeps walking, dangerously close to the fire, and she stops him, looking back and screaming for Ross.

Then, in a second, she envisions Thad in her mind. He's walking through a meadow, the sun shining gloriously on him, picking a flower.

He walks over to Ross and puts the jasmine flower in his hair. Ross smiles, cheek to cheek.

Bonnie lets go of Thad's hand and the memory is gone from her mind. She looks at Ross, who is now holding onto Thad.

"Our first date," Thad says to himself.

"He picked you a flower and put it in your hair?" Bonnie says, smiling. Ross nods. "That's so cute," Bonnie felt tears coming as she said that. She didn't know why, but seeing that memory made her very emotional. Damon wrapped his arm around Bonnie and hugged her, rubbing his shoulder.

"It's going to be okay," Damon tells her. "Whatever happens… I'll make sure you are."

"AHHH!" Thad screams, holding his head. He drops to his knees and falls on his side.

"Stop it, Bonnie!" Ross blames her.

"I'm not doing anything!" She replies. Ross glares at Luca, who is minding his own, cooking the snake.

"Don't look at me!" Luca says. Ross searches around, running his hands through his hair. Then he stops, and turns his gaze toward Thad, his face struck in thrilling awe.

"He's changing," Ross says. "He's going on to stage two: Degeneration."

Thad stops screaming, and just lays there, in a state of shock.

"When he awakes, he won't remember any of us," Ross explains, "He probably won't even remember he's a vampire… all of his memories are gone now."

Bonnie looks at Damon, pursing her lips, then back at Ross. "What's going to happen to him during degeneration?"

"His vampire abilities will go dormant, basically cease to exist," Ross explains. "Then it's stage three: dissolution. That's when the last part of him that's human goes."

"Then?" Damon asks in anticipation.

"Then it's Wrath. We don't want it to come to that," Ross says. "He turns into something stronger, violent, even worse than these rabid vamps you've encountered out here. He's unstoppable."

Damon looks at Arabess and Bonnie, worried for their safety. He sighs, also worried about his.

"Okay, so we need to find a cure before stage four," Ross says to them, asking them for his help. Bonnie is willing, but Damon isn't too keen. But he has to at least try to save Thad. And save himself.

"We got your back," Bonnie says.

"Fine. But if we don't find anything by stage three, we are killing him. Got it?" Damon says to Ross, who nods reluctantly.

The fire burns on, changing into different colors, as the five of them stare at it. Not in admiration, not anymore, but for different reasons. Luca, doesn't know the half of what's going. He's too obsessed with his magic to care about anything else. He tries to show that he cares for Bonnie but it still always seems selfish.

Ross looks at the fire, biting his lips, shaking. He's crying. The one person who understood, loved, and cared for him is gone. When Thad awakes, he'll be meeting Ross again for the first time. Ross can't even think about looking in Thad's eyes and pretending like they have no history.

Arabess looks over at the snake. She's hungry again. She was lucky to curb it earlier, because now she'll be fed. She only hopes she doesn't spit up the food in blood again. She grabs ahold of Damon's hand, for hope.

The fire reflects off of Bonnie and Damon's faces like fireworks in the night sky. They look on together, believing that they'll find a cure. They'll find a way out of this. It wouldn't be Bonnie and Damon if there wasn't another way.

There's always another way.


	13. Pure

Bonnie cups the fresh, sparkling water into her hands and throws it on her face. Her head flings back and for a second, a brief stint; the immeasurable hell she's come to know veered into a great positivity. She closes her eyes to be in this moment even longer. The truth is on the other side of her caramel smoothed eye lids and she's not yet ready to see it again.

Arabess puts her finger in the water, moving it back and forth and back and forth in waves. She stares at the water, the corners of her eyes thinning.

"The water is so…" Arabess starts to tell Bonnie, but trails off. Bonnie's eyes are as wide as the lake stretched before her after hearing the alarming intent in Arabess' voice. The feeling she received—it was familiar. A horrific reminder—a bit nostalgic—about Arabess' slow recovery. Instead of seeing those hindered, cold emotions sculpted on her face, Bonnie heard them through the sound of Arabess' voice. It was light and innocuous, contending with the palpitating breaths wrapped in between her words.

Bonnie didn't say anything. She turned her head and listened. She listened to the subtle words as they left the little girl's mouth.

Arabess' eyes were still trained on the water. "…I wish I was like water," Arabess' lips stayed ajar as her eyes averted from point to point in the water. The quiet flow reminded her of the nights she couldn't sleep at home. She couldn't sleep because it was the only time she felt peaceful.

"Why do you wish you were like water?" Bonnie asks, her brow furrowing. Her voice traveled in Arabess' ears in a soothing, motherly tone.

Arabess looks at Bonnie. She does so for a moment, and Bonnie doesn't think to look away. This sudden moment will be meaningful as their journey continues. As it deepens, as it widens, and as it reveals the nature of who they really are.

Arabess turns her gaze back to the water, its stillness inviting her in.

"Because," Arabess replies to Bonnie, "The water seems so undisturbed." Like fireflies illuminating the desolate darkness, Arabess enlightens the hazel bricks that are Bonnie's eyes. In the slightest, Bonnie's upper eyelids twitch. Unbeknownst to a passerby, Arabess turned to look at Bonnie again, she saw it jump. Bonnie is a little surprised.

Bonnie turned to look at the lake and Arabess follows. Bonnie blinks in its presence; a beautiful and serene composition of baby blue haziness. A faint ray of light hovers above the lake, giving off a mystical vibe.

Bonnie closes her parted lips. She only just realized they were open. She breathes in the moist air and looks at Arabess, a thought coming to mind.

"Me too," Bonnie divulged, "I wish I was water too, Arabess," Bonnie looks at her with an unconditional misery. Arabess may have been too young to see it, but her hold on Bonnie doesn't change. It stays the same like the water in front of her. She does wonder, though, why anyone wouldn't want to be as pure and placid as water.

Bonnie's head shakes in harmonious movements. Her eyes still fixated on Arabess, she says to her:

"It's limitless, but knows its capabilities. It's strong and absorbing, but is disciplined. And, the very sight of it, makes a person happy."

Bonnie tightens her lips, pulling them into her mouth, attempting to hold back the tears in current formation. Arabess watches her wipe under her right eye as a tear fell out.

"You don't think you make people happy?" Arabess claims. Bonnie could barely hear her voice, but something was clear, because she was ready to respond to her questions the second she asked.

"I don't know what I do to people," Bonnie says through a shaky voice. She breathes in quick and puts the backside of her hand over her mouth. Her hand falls to the side, flimsy like. "But they either leave me or I leave them…"

Bonnie can't understand why she has these conversations with Arabess. The girl looks like she's in elementary school and sometimes, talks and acts like a jaded middle school kid. But Bonnie sees into Arabess' eyes and knows she understands. She doesn't know if it's the emerald glimmer they emanate or if it's something else— the similar but strange parallel to Damon's definitive eyes—Bonnie just knows Arabess understands.

"I'll never leave you," Arabess speaks again in that quaint voice that sounds like it's disintegrating. Bonnie looks at Arabess and her mouth begins to expand. "If that can make you feel better."

Bonnie didn't know how to respond. She remembers telling Jenica SHE would take care of Arabess. And when Arabess first got acquainted with the group, she never would have envisioned this. This moment shared between them, taking care of each other.

Bonnie smiles one last time at Arabess, her eyes slimming in a sand of happiness, then she turns back around and changes her shirt. Ross let her borrow another one, well, she just stole it. He is too busy waiting around for Thad to awake to notice. She didn't think he'd care anyway.

Arabess changes shirt's also, wearing a long orange one. Must've been one of Thad's. After changing, she looks at the water again. She smirks.

"I want to swim," Arabess says out loud in a soft, delicate voice. Bonnie waves towards the water, motioning Arabess that it's okay. Arabess stands up. The water almost resembled a prison as she walked towards it, but she remembers the conversation she had with Bonnie. The one that made her smile, then she made Bonnie smile. She remembers it as she walks and in no time, she's in the water.

Bonnie stands up to stretch, turning around to the cabin and seeing Damon standing in the doorway. He is staring hard at Bonnie, and even when Bonnie looked away then back, he was still staring. It wasn't threatening or appalled, but tempting. Almost seductive or alluring in a sense that causes one to feel a sudden rush of impulsivity, or the immaculate satisfaction of living in the state of complete freedom.

Damon did elicit those feelings. He meant too. He watched Bonnie and Arabess talk from the cabin, listening in to their conversation. Unsubtly, the corners of his mouth moved half an inch as he listened.

_Well, well, well. Little Miss Witch let go of her judgy nature to finally open up to Arabess? _Damon said to himself, folding his arms. His mind and body movements never reflect each other. While his mind thought one thing, his actions did another.

He liked to loathe the idea of Bonnie and Arabess getting along, but only to tease Bonnie. His actions, though, interpret a different meaning. The restful easiness of his eyes to the ingenious smirk written on his face, a smirk always unveiled to Bonnie, tell a different story. A story that Bonnie can read night and day without stopping for a break.

He stepped back into the cabin, turning around, and stepping over Ross and Thad, who lie face to face on the floor.

"Moments," Ross blurts out. He's just laid there with Thad since stage one ended. Thad hasn't awakened yet though, and that's the moment Ross is anticipating. If his heart were beating, it would beat a thousand times a minute, because the waiting stressed him out.

Damon looked at Ross a moment. "You alright?" He asks, in a raspy voice. Damon coughs, covering his mouth. He coughs again and it causes him to bend over.

Ross looks back at Damon, worried. "Are you?" The strain in his voice emitted off a tone of annoyance. Ross didn't do it on purpose, but to Damon it was purposeful. He gives him a finger as he walks down the hall. He opens the door to the bathroom and shuts and locks it.

He approaches the sink, seeing tiny shards of glass on it. Then he looks up and sees the mirror is gone. He remembers now.

He takes a step back. The look on his face declined into sudden desperation and he fell back into the tub. He wanted to look in the mirror and see how his face looked. Instead, he just touched his face and neck, feeling the scars and blisters no more.

He smiled as he rubbed his neck over and over again. The injuries had to have dissipated, because overall he is feeling like his old self again… But who IS that guy? Damon has been faced with many challenges in his life, a plethora of hardships, but those do not even accumulate to the one he's dealing with now.

He doesn't even… He thinks of Mystic Falls. He thinks of Stefan. He thinks of Elena. Wouldn't they just want him to be happy? He's never allowed himself to think in this way, at least not with his time here with Bonnie. It's etched itself in the crevices of his mind, but only now has he chosen to think about them.

Arabess walks out of the water. Bonnie pushes off of her thighs, standing up.

"I'm going back to the cabin," Bonnie says to her. She angles her head, urging Arabess to follow. "Come on."

"I think I'm going to stay outside," Arabess replies. Bonnie opens her mouth initially, her nerves jumping. She looks around to make sure if that is okay. One glance isn't going to make her unsusceptible to the danger that's hidden. Bonnie trusts Arabess though. The girl is more than what she perceives to be.

"Okay," Bonnie stutters, the hesitation boldly confined within her voice. "Just be careful. And call me or Damon if you need anything."

"I will."

Bonnie walks towards the cabin, folding her arms, and Arabess turns back to the water.

Bonnie stops at the front door, staring at the view before her. Ross and Thad were on the floor, lying, creating what looked like some misshapen, half-hearted heart. Her eyes gloss as she leans in the door way, watching them. She hears Ross mumbling something to him, like a song or a melody. His voice is soft and unsteady.

A complete reversal of how he felt when Thad first arrived. Bonnie doesn't feel his thirst for anger and vengeance anymore. Now, he amplifies the ambience with sudden grief and moments of regret.

"Ross, is there something I can do?" Bonnie asks. Ross turns his head towards Bonnie, and from his view, she towered over him. Bonnie's head moves back in surprise, though she shouldn't be. He hasn't slept since last night, she could see it in the darkness of his eyes when he looked at her.

Bonnie shouldn't worry about his sleep though. She barely has gotten any since. It should be commonplace in her mind that sleep in this place, is evidently non-existent.

Ross moves his head, slowly and melancholy, back to Thad's direction.

"I'll be fine," Ross says. Bonnie knows it's not true. She hopes he will be okay in the future, but any time soon is like a farfetched dream.

Bonnie walks over to the table and looks through the bag that was sitting on it. She picks up a silver necklace with the shape of a triangle hanging on it. A blue glow appears around it as she holds it. She drops it in fear of what was happening. She puts it back, finding an old cassette radio. She pulls it out, sitting it on the table.

She looks back in the bag, finding a cassette tape. It had this title on it:

_If Rain Were Green._

Bonnie inserts the tape into the player, curious as to what it would play. She hits the play button and hears nothing. For the first minute or so, Bonnie doesn't hear anything. Soon after that minute, the sound of a piano enters, playing a downbeat of gloomy tunes.

The song reminded Bonnie of Luca and his description of colors. The title is what got her thinking about it at first. She cocks her head to the side and closes her eyes, rocking slowly from side to side to the melodic beat. Bonnie let the music whisk her away into a land deeply concealed behind her eyes.

Luca walks into the cabin. Bonnie hears his footsteps and turns the radio off. She turns around as he sits on the sofa. Bonnie rests her hands on the table behind her. He leans forward, resting his forearms on his thighs. His hands fiddled around squeamishly and nervously as he stared at them.

"Ross, I can't—I can't imagine how you feel right now," Luca desperately tells him. Luca talked in a nervous, routinized tone. Like he'd imagined this scenario in his head over and over again. His eyes jumped to the bookcase and back to Ross.

Ross sits up in shock; stunned that Luca even communicated to him. Ross puts his hands in between his thighs, staring down, almost dejected.

"Everyone has experienced sorrow, heartbreak…" Ross looks at Luca as he speaks. Bonnie notices and thinks he is trying to give off the impression that he's complacent about the situation. She hears a door creak as Ross continues to talk. "…or a loved one leaving them."

Luca's eyes thin out as Ross speaks, as if he's being moved by his words. He looks down and swallows, a shameful look crossing his face.

Bonnie looks to her right to see Damon walking out of the bathroom. He walks into the living room, sitting on the table and in her presence. She turns to look at his intense face. She wanted so badly to touch his pale, matured face. Deep inside her aroused mind, she had a feeling he needed it.

"I'm sorry for being horrible to you," Luca says, his head still hanging down. He couldn't look Ross in the eyes. With everything that's going on, he just wanted to apologize.

Bonnie watches as Ross stands up and sits next to Luca, placing his hand on his back.

"Shouldn't he be apologizing to me too?" Damon whispers to Bonnie, keeping his eyes on Ross and Luca. Bonnie turns to face him, her stare rising with intensity. He stares back, countering hers by wearing a look of the current mood in the room: asphyxiation.

Her hazel eyes harnesses energy like a book, creating a gravitating pull between her and Damon. While his blue, sharp irises garners the regret and hardship that is the smothering essence floating around them.

The balance leveling between them flops as Bonnie turns her gaze back to Ross, saying:

"Do you deserve those apologies?" Bonnie teases to Damon. He didn't move his stare. He kept moving his eyes over the side of her face, noticing a rosy redness lightly shaded on her cheeks.

He decides not to answer her. He knows he deserves them. And she knows he does too, but there is a fire igniting between them. Making them uncomfortable in the most alluding of ways, and Bonnie settled that burning desire by teasing her way out of it.

Damon looks back over at Ross and Luca, the tenacity between him and Bonnie dying out.

"I really—I really don't know what's going on with me…" Luca cries to Ross. Ross continues to comfort and console him. "So, I just really want to say I'm sorry."

Thad's body convulsed. He awoke gasping for air.

Arabess fell over, catching herself as her hands plant into the ground. She coughs, feeling like her lungs just experienced a large boot connecting with them. She coughs again after her stomach felt like it was mutating inside of her. It felt like it was shaping and reshaping, expanding and compressing. The feeling brought a storm of agony into her body.

The side of her face meets the ground as she coughs again, a drop of blood shooting out of her mouth. It ran down the corner of her mouth, onto her cheek, and softly meets the dirt. Its color evaporating as it sinks into the ground.

Air particles fly in and out of Arabess' vision. She sees a bushy tail move behind a tree and gains a bit of adrenaline. The little girl pushes off of her palms, determination on her face as her teeth clench together, and the pain disseminates from her stomach and throughout the limbs on her body. For someone else lacking the grit Arabess carried, moving themselves would have proved impossible. But Arabess contains the grit and perseverance lacking in most girls her age and she fought through the agonizing ache booming over her body.

She stands, clutching her stomach with her left hand. Her face immersed with the emotions of puking. Her stomach tightens, then loosens. The pain increasing as it repeats the torturing process. The only way she knows how to stop it, is eating.

Her arm reaches for the bushy tail she'd seen earlier, hoping it's still hiding behind the tree. But being so far away, she wouldn't make it in time.

Arabess' face tightens and she puts her other hand on her stomach as the pain accelerates. She lets out a gasp between her teeth— the innocence of her voice slipping out— and collapses to her knees.

Suddenly, she hears a croak. A frog. She turns her head to the side, searching for the frog. She stands up, swallowing, her mouth open in restlessness. She turns around and hears the croak again. She sprints past a couple trees, arriving back at the lake. The frog croaks again and it echoes inside of Arabess' mind. She searches along the lake, finding a frog hopping near the water. Arabess pounces on it and the frog slips out of her grip.

She crawls for it, slipping on the muddy surface below her. Her chin lands in the mud but she picks herself back up and continues moving, despite the unforgiving pain brewing inside of her. The frog hops into a bush and Arabess reaches it. She picks up a branch nearby and sticks it into the bush. She hears a squish, pulling the branch out.

The branch is stuck through the frog, blood and guts pouring from outside the frog's mouth and its end. Arabess lifts the branch over her mouth, sticking her tongue out. The guts spill from the frog's mouth onto Arabess' tongue. She pulls her tongue in, tasting its salty, slimy texture.

Her lips smack as she receives the after taste. It was gross, but it was satisfying. She pulled the frog from the branch and slammed it on the ground. She stuck both of her index fingers in the small hole the branch formed, pulling the frog apart. She tore into it like a typhoon sweeping through a village, fiendishly feeding herself like she's been starving for days.


	14. War in Heaven

Thad grunts, pushing off of his forearm to sit up. Damon hops off the table, making eye contact with Thad. He didn't trust the cynical look shaping on Thad's face.

He stands in front of Bonnie, not realizing it. "What's he doing now, Ross?" Damon keeps his watchful eye on Thad as he speaks. Bonnie steps around Damon's leg, side-eyeing him.

"It's the second stage, isn't it?" Bonnie narrows her eyes at Ross. He doesn't take a glance at them though. He slowly rises from the sofa, watching Thad. He puts his palm up at Bonnie and Damon.

"Just relax," Ross tells them in a too demanding tone, almost setting Damon off. Bonnie sees his mouth wrinkle in fury and she grabs onto his hand. He turns back and looks at her, his eyes moving slowly to the floor as his temperament calms. Bonnie lets Damon's hand go, their fingers pulling towards each other like magnets as their hands move away from one another.

Damon exhales, leaving his mouth ajar. He had in mind something to say, but decided not to create anymore animosity between him and Ross. Damon just doesn't want anyone to get hurt. He turns and lifts his head, looking at Ross. Bonnie watches Damon with increasing wariness.

"If he comes for one of us, I'm going to kill him," Damon says in a steadfast voice. He tried to commit to a less pressuring voice, one without vilification and more on par with integrity and respect.

Ross clears his throat. He hopes it won't have to come to that. He's seen Damon angry, and quite frankly, he'd much rather avoid it.

Thad stumbles as he tries to stand up and Ross places his hands on Thad's shoulders to help him up. Thad pushes him away in a panic, shuffling to the side.

"I don't know you people," Thad says under his breath, keeping his eyes low. Damon's head shifts to the side, feeling disrespected.

"What do you mean by _you people_?" Damon asks. Thad eyes rise to Damon's. He takes a deep, straining breath as he looks away from Damon, unable to stand his gaze.

"Do you know the city?" Bonnie says, thinking on her feet. She's wanted to reach city limits since she heard there is one nearby. Damon shuts his eyes tight, then opens them, a narrowing annoyance coming into his eyes.

Thad's troubling look turns to Bonnie's direction.

"The city? Wait a second…" Thad looks up, then around the entire cabin. He takes a few steps in Bonnie and Damon's direction, looking into the kitchen and down the hall. "This is my family's cabin…" Thad pounds his finger into his chest. Damon could smell the funky madness reeking off of Thad like road kill. "What did y'all do to them?!"

Damon steps up to Ross, millimeters from his face. He turns his head, menacingly, glaring into Thad's eyes and piercing his depleting soul. Thad bounces back, biting his bottom lip.

"I suggest you take a few steps back," Damon says in a raspy, low voice. He turns his head to the other side. "Before I have my friend here dismember your brain."

Thad peers over at Bonnie. He turns around, walking back to the center of the room.

Bonnie, Damon, Luca, and Ross feel at odds with Thad, and Thad feels surrounded, standing in the middle of these strangers. Bonnie and Ross step forward at the same time, their passionate selves erupting from within.

"I'm Ross," Ross says to Thad. "And these are my friends Luca, Damon, and Bonnie."

Ross waited for a response, but silence fell over the room. Thad shakes his head in fear and sprints out of the cabin. The gang chases after him, Ross yelling for Bonnie to grab the duffle bag off of the table. She does, following closely behind Damon and the others.

Bonnie walks outside, standing between Damon and Luca to see Thad collapsing to his knees, his hand out in a claw. Blue veins appear on his arm, disappearing and reappearing as they crawl through his skin and up to his hand.

Bonnie's mouth drops. She itches her eyebrow, dropping the duffle bag to the ground and looking through it.

"Stay back!" Ross orders them to stay behind him. Talons begin to protrude on Thad's fingers and he screams.

"What the hell is happening to him?" Damon's face is flustered. He thinks of himself in that position— mysterious talons growing on his fingers and the indivisible suffering that comes along with it. Damon bends down next to Bonnie as she pulls the notebook "Reduction" from the bag.

"It's like your little grimour," Damon chuckles. He looks up at the ongoing terror before him.

"Only if it contains the solution to this problem of ours," Bonnie says, flipping through the pages until she reaches degeneration. "Then it's just well-written depiction of your death."

Damon glares at Bonnie. "Way to sugar-coat it, Bon-Bon," The base in his voice deepens when he says her nickname.

Bonnie glares back up at him. "You wouldn't for me." She raises her eyebrows, then looks back down at the notebook. "Here." She points to a sketched picture of a famished hand with talons forming on its tips.

Bonnie and Damon read the caption under the photo:

_Signs of stage two Degeneration: Endless suffering accommodated with… _Bonnie stops reading, taking a breath. Endless suffering? Haven't they suffered enough? She stands slowly, her hazel gaze focused on Damon. Her eyes blink in compassion and sympathy as they thin in Damon's backside.

_…accommodated with sporadic physical changes. Talons, teething. Veins moves through skin like worms— oh god. _

Damon looks away from the notebook, holding his hand over his mouth. He blinks several times, revealing a confused and unhinged look.

When he first arrived to this unknown place with Bonnie Bennett, he was willing to die. The persevered and benevolent Bonnie rubbed off on him, and as he searched for her and felt her touch underneath his scars, she grew on him. She was a dark shadow and he was a lone wolf— he scared her, in ways no woman has been able to do so, and it intrigued him after a while. Now, he can't see himself in this world without her. Dying, this stripping of his humanity, is the last thing, on wherever he is, he wants to be.

Thad's neck jerked back and Bonnie jumps back. Damon holds onto her, making sure she doesn't fall, but really, he only wanted to feel her skin.

"Damon!" Arabess yells. He looks up in shock and sees her running towards him. He zips to her and stops her. She stares at Thad as he falls to the ground, unconscious.

Arabess puts both hands around Damon's hand, a mortified look on his face. Damon looks down at her.

"Don't worry, he's not going to hurt you," Damon tells her. But Arabess, as she sucks on her bottom lip, knows that's not the reason she's drowning in intense fear. Her face trembles so slightly, not even Damon realizes, and her eyes tear up. A tear falls down her cheek and onto her damp shirt. Another tear falls and a wormy shape forms in front of it underneath her skin, and the tear rolls over it. The worm moves across her cheek in an S-formation. She touches her cheek as the worm disappears, feeling nothing.

Ross crouches next to Thad. He awakes.

"What happened?" Thad asks.

An hour later, the gang is a mile away from the cabin, walking to find the city. Bonnie assumed the gang had enough energy to find the city, but they'd have to move fast. Thad's intellect is fading fast as his vampire abilities go dormant.

"So, I'm not a witch, anymore?" Thad asks Ross. Ross and Thad led the group through the forest. Luca walked behind Ross and Thad. Then, Bonnie and Damon followed along with Arabess in between them.

"You were turned," Ross said, putting the strap of his duffle bag on his other shoulder. Ross held the notebook in his hand. Thad looked at it and Ross handed it to him. He opens it.

"This looks like my handwriting…" Thad says.

"That's because it is, we wrote it together." They stare at each other, then Ross half-smiles and looks ahead.

Thad shoves the notebook in Ross' stomach.

"Are you okay?"

"Just—let's keep walking." Thad presses a hand to his forehead. He turns around, looking at Luca, then Bonnie.

"You two," Thad says to them. Luca turns around and looks at Bonnie, confused. She shrugs. "You're witches."

Bonnie hesitantly nods.

"So?" Luca says.

"So, I already knew you were one, saw you practicing earlier. But you," He points to Bonnie and she matches his arrogant look with a tantalizing glare. "I could smell you… shit, I STILL smell you now! You don't know how powerful you are."

"What're you talking about?" Bonnie replies, in disbelief.

"Luca, you can't tell me you don't feel that energy…" Luca didn't reply. He just puts his hands on his hips, raising an eyebrow at Thad. "Ross… You," He points to Damon, "I know you all smell her blood. It's rich and resourceful. It's magnetic."

"Maybe it's because I'm not from here," Bonnie says, hopefully shutting him up. She's becoming scared of his accusations. She knows it's true, but she'd rather not believe it.

Thad furrows his brow. A smile develops on his face. Damon doesn't like it one bit.

"You're not from here?" Thad asks. Ross turns around, and the group stops walking.

Bonnie shakes her head. "Me or him," She turns her head to Damon.

"Oh my god…" Thad's mouth is open in surprise.

"What?" Bonnie replies. Thad just stands there astounded, chuckling to himself. Damon's brow furrows at him.

"Thad?" Damon calls to him quickly.

"How'd you get here?" Thad says, turning around and walking. Ross looks at Bonnie and Damon, then starts walking also.

"We died," Bonnie takes a step, walking in unison with Damon. "Then found ourselves here. We've been trying to find a way back but, we haven't so lucky."

"There's a gateway…" Thad says. Bonnie and Damon, look at each other, then back at Thad. "It only a takes a few things: A witch, a consecrated framed necklace, and—AHHH!"

Thad stops in his tracks, pressing his fingers against his teeth.

"It hurts!" Thad screams. Bonnie, Luca, Damon, and Arabess gather around as Ross puts his arms around Thad, attempting to console him. Thad's fangs elongate and bluish green veins appear under his red eyes.

"His vampire nature is dissolving!" Ross says. His face is filled with panic and fear, as he plans to hold Thad until he's certain he is okay. Thad passes out and his weight falls onto Ross. "Help, guys! Please!" Ross' voice heightens as he struggles to hold up Thad.

The others reach to help, but are too late as Ross and Thad fall to the ground. Damon and Luca roll Thad's body off of Ross. Thad rolls onto his back, his eyes shut but his mouth open. His fangs in clear sight.

Damon sits on the cold, moist forest floor, aching a bit. Arabess curls up next to him.

"What now?" Bonnie breaks the silence, her voice sounding urgent.

"We have to wait… until he wakes," Ross tells her. Bonnie sighs, leaning against a tree. Silence falls around them again, each enveloping it in their own way.

Ross, feeling weak, lays on his back and stares at the dazed sky above.

Damon pinches Arabess' nose and tugs on it. She laughs, and as he lets go her smile recedes to a frown. He looks over at Bonnie and narrows his eyes with a smirk. She chuckles, a quick breath of air leaving her nose.

She leans against a tree, staring at the beautiful distance ahead of her. It's nothing different, nothing she hasn't seen already. She feels the midday air pass through her, as its misty light shines through the trees in her view.

_So beautiful, yet so…_

Bonnie loses her train of thought when she hears a footstep behind her. Luca appears in her peripheral, standing next to her. Her eyes jump to him. He doesn't say anything.

He just looks on with her, captivated by the unique view.

Damon looks down at Arabess' sleeping body. He stands up, picking her up also. He didn't want her to lie on the ground. He walks over to Bonnie and Luca, stepping between the two, intentionally trying to upset Luca. Luca doesn't even acknowledge Damon's presence, he just continues enjoying the view before him. Damon's eyes become locked onto the view too. He lifts his head slightly, smelling the daylight air.

He closes his eyes. It's half-past noon.

"Hey," Ross calls from behind them. The three of them turn around. He understands how distracted this place can be. Living, surviving out here— it takes patience and courage and bravery. Only the strongest minds can last, and if they can, they learn to appreciate the beautifully dire scenery composed around them. Sometimes it's the only light in the middle of the day.

"He's awake," Ross continues. They walk over to Ross as he helps Thad up. Ross opens his notebook, silently reading it. "Degeneration has officially started. He's dwindling now. We need to move fast."

Ross turns, urging them to follow. They continue their journey to the city through the sunlit forest.

Ross' mouth is wide open in utter despair. He feels like he's falling apart, and having to hold Thad up so he can walk is only making his pain worsen. Beads of sweat form at the top of his head and begin to run down his face. He breathes in and out through his mouth, deeply, hoping to make it to the city before collapsing.

Damon can hear Ross' breaths. He looks at Bonnie, alarm in his eyes.

"I don't think Ross is doing okay," Damon says, his head shaking. "I can hear his breathing. He's starting to wheeze."

"Then we should stop," Bonnie responds, staring at the back of Ross' head.

"And what? Stop our trek to your precious city?"

Bonnie is surprised by Damon's tone. It's unsettling.

"Do you not want to go?"

"Vampires are BANNED from the city, Bonnie!" Damon glares at her. These thoughts have been racing through his mind since they left. He just didn't know how to communicate them properly without feeling angry. Maybe this was the only way.

"Maybe there is something we can do!" Bonnie tells him. He doesn't listen.

"There is NOTHING, Bonnie!" Damon yells, exploding, like he's been holding this all in. "THIS is IT! THIS IS ALL WE GOT!"

Ross turns around with Thad, wondering what Damon is freaking out about. Luca watches too as Arabess awakens on Damon's shoulder. He puts her down, pointing a finger at Bonnie.

"Because YOUR Grams brought us here! I would rather have nothing, than to be tortured by a bunch of weak-willed WITCHES!"

Damon backs away from Bonnie and she is still shocked by this reaction. He was right. She hadn't thought the whole plan through, but on their way to figuring out how to save Damon, the idea of the city sounded good. To her, at least. To Damon, it was a fairytale. Unreal, and if so, not exactly what they think.

He walks up to a tree and punches it. He feels the pain ache through his knuckles and up to his wrist. He clutches onto his fist, bending over. Bonnie walks up to him, touching his back. He pushes her away, mugging her.

She holds her hands out to the side, slightly bent, confused.

"I'm sorry. Is that what you wanted to hear? I'm sorry that I—I" Bonnie hesitates. Her mouth moves but there's no sound. Normally, Damon would have walked away, but he was interested, vested, in what she had to say next. He wanted her to say something… to keep him here. So, he interrupts her on a hunch:

"We only have each other, Bonnie!" Damon walks towards her, pointing at himself then her.

"I know that!"

"You and I!" Damon's voice drops to a grave manner. He gets hot as his eyes feel with water. Bonnie is his only connection to Mystic Falls, and part of that is the reason why he wants her to stay, but it's more than that…

"Damon, I know!" She says in a gasp. Emotion consumed her voice like the sun in its conflicting innateness, patient but sudden. He walks toward her more and she takes a step. "So, forgive me then Damon… Forgive me, for wanting us to have a better life in this… hell!"

Damon's hands lift up to her face and he cups it, staring deeply into her eyes. He actually never thought about it in that way. Bonnie's eyes close as her face drifts into his.

"Enough with the melo-dramaticness!" Luca says, interrupting them. Damon and Bonnie step away from each other, then look at Luca. In unison, they say:

"Shut up, Luca!"

Ross groans loudly, collapsing to the ground. He lets go of Thad, who stands there unable to hold himself upright. Bonnie, Damon, and Luca run to Ross.

"He needs blood!" Bonnie says. She puts her arm out, but Arabess grabs it.

"I'll do it," Arabess says. Bonnie didn't want to let her, but something inside of her told her to. But she knows, there will be consequences. There always is.

"Let her," Damon interjects. Bonnie nods and Arabess puts her wrist over Ross' barely conscious body. Ross mumbles, shaking his head as tears fill in his eyes. Arabess picks up a small rock from the ground and slashes it across her wrist. Her blood drips onto Ross' dry, white crisped lips. He tightens them, refusing to drink the little girl's blood.

Damon slaps his cheek. "Hey!" Damon yells at him. "Drink it! That little mink is tough and you better honor that!" Ross lets the blood slip into his mouth.

He sits up, feeling a little better.

"Is Thad okay?" Ross asks, looking for him.

"He's still out of it," Bonnie tells him. They all look at Thad, who looks around aimlessly. When he sees Ross, he smiles and laughs, like he's high or drunk. Ross' frown dissipates and the corner of his mouth stretches a bit. He hasn't heard that laugh in forever.

"You're cute," Thad says to Ross. Bonnie furrows her brow.

"Is he high?" She asks him. Ross shakes his head, looking at the still red eyes and elongated fangs on Thad's face.

"No," Ross slightly chuckles, "He's just a little happy."

The six of them stand up, getting ready to continue their voyage. They start walking again and Bonnie can't help but feel the need to ask him about going home. He was close to telling her earlier, when he had said how powerful she was, and the thought never left her mind since.

She hesitates asking him though, peering at Damon. She does not think he will have another meltdown but, Bonnie can't ever know with Damon.

"Hey, Thad, earlier you said something about me returning home," Bonnie says. Thad turns around, looking at her, then he turns back.

"I did?" Thad wonders. He honestly can't remember. Damon and Bonnie exchange looks. He is indifferent about the question. He didn't care for the answer, Bonnie could see it in his eyes.

"Yeah," Bonnie continues, "Something about a necklace?"

"Oh yeah—"

"What about what's happening to you?" Damon cuts Thad off before he could finish answering Bonnie's question. She doesn't get angered by it though.

"My humanity stripping? Well, that's why we have to go to the city…" Thad tells him.

"Why?" Damon asks.

"Because. We have to find the witch that did it. And kill them."

Bonnie and Damon look at one another in surprise, then Damon's eyes lower and avert back to Thad.

"But witches are immortal."

"Not to other witches… all it takes is a knife to the neck. But it HAS to be a knife to the neck."

There it was. The loophole Bonnie and Damon were looking for. Bonnie, or Luca, would have to kill Kaya…

_I'd have to kill Kaya? Could I actually do that?_ Bonnie thinks of the possibilities in her head. She knows what to do now. She just as to figure out how.

_I… I could hire someone or… I don't know. I guess if it's in order to save Damon I should do it._

Damon looks at Bonnie, nudging her with his elbow.

"Hey," He says, giving her a smooth smile, "I understand if you don't want to do it. I'll just force Luca."

Bonnie shakes her head. "This isn't Luca's problem. It's ours. And, if… we ever make it to the city, we'll deal with it then."

"Hoping, assuming that the bitch Kaya doesn't start the process first… what if we don't have enough time?"

Bonnie shrugs. She really didn't know.

"Like I said, if we find the city. We'll handle it."

Damon didn't like it, but it was the truth. That's what he respected about Bonnie. Her love for honesty and passion for the truth. He can't think of anyone else he'd rather be stuck in this situation in. Other than Arabess, but anyone else? No.

After walking for a long time and taking frequent breaks in between, they find a paved road. Damon stomps on the road.

"Is this real?" Damon asks the group. He was happy to find something linked to his last existence. Bonnie is too. It's been a long time since they've walked on paved roads. She thinks of her little Prius, wishing she could drive it now.

_Fucking Prius,_ she thinks to herself.

Thad points down the road, its path desolate and quiet. There were no signs of cars anywhere. It looked like a long ways to the city, but they'd travel it. Even Damon, if it meant saving himself, he would. Bonnie isn't going to let anything happen to him. He knows that.

"It's a straight shot right into city limits," Thad tells them. "Let's go."

They all follow his lead down the road.

The sun is starting to set as Ross looks up at it, using his hand as a way to block its rays. He looks to his left, seeing two abandoned train cars on an abandoned railroad track. It was a ways from the road and in the forest a little.

"I think we should rest for the night. It's getting late," Ross suggested. Bonnie nodded, agreeing. Thad gasps as his fangs retract and his eyes turn to their regular form. The talons on his fingers disappear.

"What just happened?" Damon asks Ross. He's looking at Thad, staring at his hands and fingers, then feeling over his face.

"His vampire abilities have gone dormant…" Ross tells him. "Let's go rest."

Ross walks into the forest, with Thad following close behind him. Arabess looks up at Bonnie and Damon, grabbing ahold of their hands. She starts walking and pulls them forward.

The both of them, Bonnie and Damon, wanted to keep walking to the city. But they did need the rest. And so did Arabess.

The six of them walk up to the train cars. Ross and Thad climb into the blue one on the right. Bonnie and Damon hop into the green one on the left. Damon helps Arabess into the train car. Luca hops into the same one, walking over to the side where Bonnie is sitting. Damon and Arabess sit on the other side.

Bonnie looks down, feeling a blanket on her hand. It's a red and white tiled design, lying underneath her, and though it's dirty, it still feels comfortable. She scoots up, laying back on the blanket.

Luca taps his foot against the floor of the car, not realizing how loud of a sound it is making. Damon glares at him, annoyed.

"Some of us are trying to sleep, Luca," Damon rolls his eyes and leans his head back. Arabess lays her head on Damon's chest and immediately falls to sleep.

As day turned into night, Damon slowly lifted Arabess' head and body, laying her delicately on the floor. He stands up and walks to the edge of the train car. Hundreds of small, blue orbs floated around in the distance. Damon turns around to see if Bonnie's awake, but she wasn't. He wanted her to see. He walked over to her, lying next to her, watching her as she slept. He placed his hands on the underside of his cheek. Her eyes opened.

"Damon…" She says, "Hey."

Damon scoots closer to her. "Hi. I had something to tell you but I forgot," Damon replies. He got lost in the spark of her eyes. He took a deep breath. "You know," He swallows, "I've been so cold lately."

"Well, you are a vampire," Bonnie replies, matter-of-factly. He curves the side of his mouth up in sarcasm.

"It's not that. It's something else… entirely."

Bonnie places her hand on his face. He inhales as the warmth from her hand dispersed into his face. He closes his eyes, putting his hand over hers.

"Are you cold now?" Bonnie asks him. He shakes his head, his eyes still closed. He opens his eyes to see the back of her head. He's disappointed at first, but then he feels her hand on his thigh, pulling him towards her. A smirk crosses over his face and he moves in closer. His arm wrapping around her and his chest closing in on her back.

_She's warm…_ Damon thinks. Bonnie interlocks her fingers in Damon's, their hands resting together in front of her stomach.

"Remember when I was on the brink of death?" Damon asks her. She felt his breath on his neck, giving her goose bumps all down her back. She nods, urgently, but really her nerves were excited.

He loves the feel of her body rising and falling, as the human heart beats. He holds her closer.

"Yeah," Bonnie answers him. Her lips stay parted, and she turns to lay on her back. Their eyes meet and she glides her tongue across her bottom lip.

"Well, all I did was think about you…" His eyes don't leave her face; traveling from her eyes to her cheeks to her lips. He's enticed by all of her. Her hazel, honest eyes— her sharp, brown skin. The fluffiness of her hair— _she stole my fluff_. He thinks as he pictures his long, dark hair in his mind.

"It was like you were there the entire time. I could feel you, smell you… you were there weren't you?"

Bonnie smiles, looking away from Damon's intense stare.

"Hey, don't," Damon lifts her chin, locking onto her eyes. "…I wish I had the pleasure of kissing you first," His face lowers to hers. Their lips graze.

It was something Bonnie wanted to do. To kiss Damon. But she wasn't sure.

Their lips rubbed together. Bonnie's eyes closing. Damon's mouth opened, enclosing his lips around Bonnie's upper lip. Before his lips leave her, her bottom lip latches on at the last second.

She wanted more. His lips we're like the first time all over again. They were a falsity; thin and slim, but plump and luscious as Bonnie felt their touch. She opens her eyes, seeing Damon coming in for another. She lets him.

As his lips lift her up, she inhales. He inhales.

A passion, a fire… Something electric encompasses the energy between them. Damon's lips begin to gravitate lower, kissing the side of her chin and the underside of it. They traveled down to Bonnie's neck and stayed there for a while.

Bonnie pushes Damon away lightly and he furrows his brow.

"What?" Damon asks. He liked it. She loved it. But, something is bothering her. She lays on her back and he cocks his head to the side. He wanted to know why but, she didn't say anything.

After a moment of sitting in each other's presence, silence smothering them, Damon says something.

"Is this the hell you envisioned?" He asks. Bonnie looks at him a second before answering him.

"No…" Bonnie answers, "The hell I imagined was ideal. It was religious-like with Satan and bad people who did bad things… burning. Fire. I used to draw these pictures of them all the time as a child—"

"I know," Damon interrupts her. She opens her mouth in shock.

"What do you mean, you know?" She asks, searching his face for an answer. She didn't find a thing though. If anyone can hide emotion better than her, it's him.

"I KNOW," Damon tells her, inching his head closer to hers. She pressed her hand lightly on his cold cheek, moving it to his earlobe. He wanted to kiss her again. And the weakness in Bonnie's knees indicated she wanted to kiss him too. She leans in to kiss him again.

She pushes him onto the floor and lifts her leg over his body. She kisses him again, tracing down to his neck. Damon's hands scatter up Bonnie's thighs and to her hips. She lifts back up, removing her shirt.

She stops.

"Arabess!" Bonnie says, covering herself. Damon places a finger on her lips.

"She's sleep," He says, his finger sliding down her moist lips. "But if you're a screamer…"

"Ugh. Shut up!" She says, punching him in the chest. He groans, clutching it. He chuckles then bites his lip. Bonnie leans down, meeting his lips again.

The sun neglected to show its face. The white clouds dawned a muggy but bleak aura, distilled into the air. Damon steps over a bush, searching intently for Luca.

He's been gone since last night. He figured he'd be back in the morning, but he still wasn't there. Damon woke Ross and asked for his help. He knew Bonnie wouldn't hesitate to come looking for Luca, and so he decided to take it upon himself to look for him. He's had no luck since.

There's no scent, no trace of him anywhere. No lead for him and Ross to follow. They're walking through the forest using their own volition and instinct to find him. Ross looks up into a tree.

"Why the HELL would he be in a tree, Ross?" Damon asks. He rolls his eyes.

"You never know," Ross tells him, shrugging. "Do you think he was taken?"

"I don't know what to think."

He doesn't. The only thing on his mind is Bonnie. He can't stop thinking about her… everything about her. Ever since they had sex, he can't seem to shake her… This feeling rising inside of him, surging through his body, it makes him see differently. He may actually like her.

"I'll check over here," Ross says. He walks away, leaving Damon to himself and his thoughts.

He would try to escape her, to focus on looking for Luca, but her angelic appearance never relented. Everything he touched, he compared that to hers. It was like nothing he'd felt before. The bark on the tree is as natural and innate as the melatonin texture of Bonnie's skin, but never will it be a privilege to touch. Not only that, but the exquisite feel of her shape and the gentle glide of her touch would always contrast with the bark of the tree Damon's hand rests on.

He wanted so much, so eagerly to feel her again. He smiled to himself thinking of last night. Then he heard a thud behind him. He shifted around, scanning the area with devil's eyes. A small squirrel hopped out from behind a tree, then ran along.

Damon sighed in relief, turning back around to find Luca. He licks his lips, tasting Bonnie's. He remembers wanting to bite into her neck, but Bonnie wouldn't let him. Though, he hopes to one day be able to. To taste her blood from the vein in all its rich authenticity— he would become a new man.

Ross jogs back to Damon, putting a hand on his shoulder to rest awhile.

"He's nowhere to be found," Ross says through tired breaths, "We should go back."

"You hungry? Again?" Damon asks. Ross nods. Damon helps him stand up and Ross wobbles, blinking, his eyes widening.

"Don't make me drink her blood again… I won't," Ross struggles to get the words out.

"It's crazy, man. One minute you're doing fine… the next you're not."

"It's the curse of being a vampire in the land of the forgotten." Ross and Damon decide to go back to the abandoned train cars. That's where Bonnie, Arabess, and Thad were.

Bonnie awakens. She feels a shimmer of cold wind glide over her body. She looks up and sees Arabess standing over her, handing her some clothes. Bonnie looks down, realizing she's naked. She grabs the clothes from Arabess, putting them on.

"Hey Arabess," Bonnie says, pulling a shirt over her body.

"Hi," Arabess replies. "I saw you and Damon last night…"

Bonnie's eyes widen. She stands up, fumbling for what to say to Arabess.

"You guys were…" Arabess' eyes jump to the corner, "…doing kissing stuff."

Bonnie nods. "Yeah, we did… that's all we did though."

Arabess half-smiles. Bonnie thinks Arabess might've seen more, but decides to let it go. Arabess hops out of the train car.

Bonnie thinks of what she told Arabess. She knows that's not all they did. They did a lot more. They were every bit of intimate, every brush of sensual, and Damon, to Bonnie's surprise, treated her like a rare, endangered species—he sheltered her and nurtured her, in an accumulation of sexual surprises. She lost her breath for a moment as she thought of his breath hovering over her ear. She grabbed it, smiling.

_Where is Mister "Full of Surprises" anyway?_ Bonnie thinks to herself. She hops out of the train car, looking around for him. She walks over to the other train car, hopping in. She sees Thad lying down, passed out. She looks over to see Arabess going through the duffle bag. Arabess picks up the triangular necklace, putting it on.

She started to say something to Arabess but Thad wakes up. Bonnie looks at him and he looks back at her, reaching for her. He starts saying something but she couldn't understand. It was just random sounds coming from his mouth like he'd lost the ability to speak.

Bonnie runs over to the duffle bag, looking for the notebook. She finds it, flipping through it. Arabess sits next to her, getting scared. She sees the look on Bonnie's face and she knows something is wrong.

Bonnie reads through each stage, trying to find symptoms that match what Thad is experiencing. She puts her finger on something that read: _Loses ability to read, to speak… basic human functions begin to fade… The beginning stages of stage three: Dissolution._

Bonnie closes the notebook and looks at Arabess. She hugs her to try and comfort her.

"It'll be okay," Bonnie reassures Arabess. The little girl stares at Thad in unease.

"Why is he doing that?" Arabess asks Bonnie.

"He's in pain…" Bonnie rubs Arabess' back.

"Why?"

"Because he's losing himself. The last part of himself that makes him human."

Damon and Ross hop into the train car. Ross runs over to Thad and Damon to Bonnie and Arabess. He hugs the both of them, kissing Arabess on the head. He and Bonnie look at each other before Ross calls them over to help.

Damon runs over but Bonnie stops him, standing. She shakes her head.

"It's too late, isn't it?" Bonnie says to Ross. He didn't want to believe it, but he knows it is. Any minute now, Thad could lose it.

"No! Just please!" Ross urges them. Damon looks back at Bonnie then to Ross. "Please!" Ross pleads and begs, sobbing over Thad. Thad continues to make noises and sounds, wishing to communicate but unable to do so.

"Stop…" Ross says under his breath. His eyes thinning. He glares at Thad with eyes only worn on sadistic murderers. "I said stop." Ross closes his eyes. "Stop…"

"Where's Luca?" Bonnie asks Damon.

"That's where we were. Out looking for him." He replies. Ross pounds both of his fists on Thad's chest.

"STOP IT!" Ross screams. "STOP IT, STOP, STOP, STOP IT!" On each word he pounds on his chest, tears bursting through his eyes. "STOP, STOP IT, STOP… IT! STOP IT!"

Damon runs over, pushing Ross into a wall. He pins him up.

"Calm down, Ross!" Damon demands. Ross tries to get out of Damon's grasp and Damon puts his forearm in Ross' neck. "I said it cool it!" Ross stops, looking into Damon's eyes. "You know what you have to do… and if you don't, I will."

Damon keeps his forearm in Ross' neck until he knew Ross is levelheaded enough to be let go. After staring him in the eyes, he removes his forearm, walking away.

"Are you ready to do this? For the sake of our survival?" Damon says. Ross nods, looking at Thad's body. Deep down, he isn't ready.

Thad's body thuds on the ground as Damon drops him in the middle of the forest, far away from Bonnie and Arabess.

"I'll leave you to it…" Damon flashes away. Ross stands there, a stake in his hand, glaring at Thad. Thad doesn't make a sound anymore. He's paralyzed. He can hear, see, and think, but he cannot move. He cannot talk properly. His memories are stripped. He looks at Ross with that stake in his left hand and hopes to God he doesn't use it on him.

Ross ruffles his curly, red hair in anxiety. He didn't want to kill his one true love, but he had too. He jumped on top of Thad's body, raising the stake high in the air. Thad's eyes widen in terror and Ross brings it down.

He stops inches before Thad's heart. He stands up and walks away, covering his mouth. He sobs, staring at the ground and kicking it. He takes a moment to try and calm his emotions. Or, to separate them from his actions for now.

Then, he inhales and prepares himself. Wrath is the worst part of reduction and Ross will not unleash that demon unto this world…

Ross turns around, ready to plunge, but… Thad is gone.

"Oh my god…" Ross says to himself.

Damon, Bonnie, and Arabess wait at the abandoned train cars for Ross to return.

Damon and Bonnie start walking to the edge of the paved road.

"So, we should talk about last night…" Bonnie says. She puts her hands around her back, looking up at him.

"What is there to talk about?" Damon says. Bonnie rolls her eyes, knowing Damon isn't going to accept anything less than what she wants to explicitly state. He likes to take a chainsaw to a bush, rather than beat around it.

Arabess hops into the blue train car, seeing the duffle bag and looking through it some more. She puts her hand over the triangle necklace she wore around her neck, it glowed blue and she removed her hand, fast.

She picks up the notebook, opening it to a random page.

"Even worse than the rabid vampires roaming the land," Arabess reads, "the fourth stage shows a vampire whose strength is five times its original. It's faster than normal. And it's blood thirst horrifying. This is where a vampire's true nature is revealed."

Arabess hears something behind her. She gasps and turns around, but sees nothing.

"I just need to know one thing…" Bonnie asks Damon, "Was it real… this between us, or was it because we yearned for something… or someone…?"

"DAMON!" Arabess yelled. She's sprinting from the train car to the both of them. Damon and Bonnie sprint toward her too. Arabess trips, clutching her stomach.

"Arabess!" Damon flashes to her, but before he could touch her Thad appears out of nowhere, grabbing her and throwing her. Arabess screams die as she flies farther away.

Damon attempts to chase her but Thad close-lines him, smirking.

"Hello, _fuck_birds," Thad says to the both of them. "Aw, I missed the Bamon brigade… The Donnie division—"

Bonnie uses her power to push Thad away. She runs to Damon.

"Come on, Damon! Get up!" She says, helping him up. They run away from Thad.

"What about Arabess?" Damon asks.

"We don't have time!" Bonnie says, then Thad flashes behind her, snapping her neck.

"BONNIE!" Damon screams as Bonnie falls to the ground. He could hear his voice echo in the distance, and his palpitating breaths, as everything around slowly fell apart. He catches Bonnie's lifeless body, bringing her to the ground. He looks around for Thad, but sees no sign of him.

He turns his attention back to Bonnie, the world suddenly moving too fast for him to catch up.

"Bonnie!" Damon says again. He knows she's immortal, but he can't stand it… seeing her die again. It's torture.

He reaches to grab her but his hands go right through her. He can't understand why and he tries again. He can't feel her… it's like he's a ghost or something.

"What the…" Damon says as he stands, running to a nearby tree to touch it. His hand falls through that too. The only thing he can touch is the ground. He begins to panic and runs back to Bonnie, crouching next to her and placing a finger on her cheek only for it to fall through. He can't feel anything.

_Why can't I feel anything?_

"Thad!" Ross screams. "THAD!" He screams again in the middle of the forest. He turns around, running into Luca. "Luca, oh my god!" He hugs him and Luca pushes Ross off of him.

"I'm sorry," Ross says to him. "Thad is on the loose. I think stage four has commenced! We gotta find him!"

"_We _don't have to do anything…" Luca says, glaring at him.

"What—AH!" Ross collapses to his knees as Luca boils his brain and cracks his bones with his mind.

"I've been waiting soooo long to kill you," Luca tells him. Ross slams to the ground face first, crying out for Luca to stop. "First… you. Then, Damon."

"Luca, please! I didn't do anything!" Ross pleads. Luca doesn't listen. He just circles Ross as if he's some inferior creature. Luca glues Ross to the ground so he wouldn't move. He summons a snake from the ground and it wiggles its way to Ross, gliding over his neck. The snake goes around Luca's neck until it has a good grip, then it tightens.

Ross' mouth opens as he tries to catch a breath. His face turns dark red and blood begins to spit out of his mouth.

Luca puts his hand out in front of Ross and twists it. As he did that, Ross' neck decapitates and the snake buries itself back into the ground.

"One down. Two to go."


	15. Away

Arabess slams into a tree and falls, her stomach landing onto a precarious branch. Her eyes open slowly and she sees the web of branches below her. Blood releases itself from her lip and she watches it disappear into the sporadic mess of tree branches. She places her hands onto the branch she's on and grunts. She exerts all of her weight into the palm of her hands as she pushes off the branch and lifts herself up.

"Ah!" She slips off the branch, screaming for Damon. Her face meets the sharp end of a branch, permanently scarring the rosiness of her pale cheeks. It stung as her chest collides into a large, unmoved branch. She flips into the branches below her like a cyclone; intense and unstoppable. She feels the pain of the thousands of branches scarring her face, arms, and legs. She doesn't let out a sound of insufferableness. She doesn't scream. Her agony doesn't make itself known, but her eyelids wince. Her mouth twitches as the scars on her face deepen.

Her back slams into another branch, stopping her torturous journey of descent. Arabess reveals her teeth as her limbs bend back, hanging over the branch. She stares up towards the sky, the sun weakly shining through the grey clouds. Arabess sees a majestic, black crow. She thinks it's gorgeous. The bird flaps its large wings and a feather floats down in front of Arabess. Her eyes follow it until it lands onto her forehead. She looks back up at the bird as it perches on a branch above her.

She twitches a smile, in the midst of all this.

The branch she is on breaks and Arabess falls towards the ground, and for some odd reason, she opens her mouth. She calls for Damon again as the crow swoops down towards her. An image flashes in her mind. Thad.

His cruel, veiny face appearing in her head. She remembers hearing something, then running scared to Damon and Bonnie. She didn't make it though. Her stomach cramped and she fell over, blood pouring out of her mouth.

That's when Thad appeared. Arabess had always thought he was angry, but… this was different. She saw a certain evil in his eyes. An evil that couldn't be changed or modified. He launched her into the air and now, she finds herself falling to her death.

The crow glides in front of Arabess and claws into her shoulders with its talons. She puts her hands onto the crow's feet, trying to make it move, but it doesn't. She pounds her fist into them, and it soon relents, dropping Arabess only a few feet above the ground. She rolls a few feet then stops on her stomach. It growls again. The scars on her face sting and she lifts her fingers up to touch them, but she doesn't. Her shakes as she lowers it back to the ground.

She whips her head up, seeing the crow weaving between the branches, the sun creating a blurry but beautiful background for it.

"Damon?" Arabess yells. "Bonnie? Anybody?" Her voice calms to a whisper. "Anyone…"

She hears a laugh. It sounded raspy and deep. It was a man. Arabess figured it was Thad. She stands up slowly, and scans the area frantically. She whips around, hearing something behind her. Her breathing begins to accelerate.

"Stop messing with me Thad I know it's you!" The middle between her eyebrow creases as she waits for a response. Or for him to reveal himself. But instead, it was like she'd invited a silence into the atmosphere. She raises her chin, feeling a bit self-assured. She turns around and begins walking away, still alert of her surroundings.

She looks up again, wondering where the crow went. It was fascinating, seeing that crow, ultimately because the forest isn't lively at all. It's green and lush but absent of nature. Of other living, breathing organisms. It's a calamity she had to kill for a meal awhile back, but she had to. She contributed to perpetuating the absence of wildlife in the forest, but she accepts that. This is why she was so elated to see a crow, an animal, something other than… human.

It even, now she realizes, it helped her. It did so in a painfully, trippy way but, it saved her. And she's grateful. And she'd be even more grateful to find another lonely creature basking in the desertedness of this forest, to guide her into salvation.

She steps over a bush filled with green and orange bugs, resembling cockroaches, toppling and climbing over the top of each other. She continues walking until she hears a voice.

"Arabess…" The raspy voice made itself known again, this time in a creepy and fearful way.

"Leave me alone…" Arabess says again.

"Alone? No," The voice says in a childish way. Arabess traces the voice above her. She looks up, but sees nothing.

"When I find Damon—" Arabess' voice starts to break. "He's gonna—"

"He's going to what?" The voice interrupts her. She circles around, trying to find the source of the voice. She runs to a tree and searches behind it, but finds nothing. "Damon's dead."

Arabess turns around, her eyes filling with water. Her mouth drops and she swallows.

"No, he's not!" Arabess screams, stomping her foot.

"Yes, darling!"

"No, he's NOT!" She screams louder. She chokes as a large hand grabs the back of her neck, lifting her into the air. It was Thad.

Arabess wiggles in the air, hoping that Damon or Bonnie would come to her rescue. His grip tightens and blood seeps out and around Thad's fingers. Arabess puts up a fight. Her body wants to shut down as she kicks Thad. Her eyes slowly close. She gives up. She can feel the pain leaving her. She doesn't move or shake anymore… she doesn't fight. She lets it happen. And as she accepts this, everything goes black…

Bonnie awakes underneath a lilac colored sky. She jolts up, remembering, and trying to catch her breath. The images of Thad flashed through her mind. Arabess' scared voice shouted through the tunnels of her ears. She looks around her. There is no one. No Arabess, and no Damon. Bonnie stands up and walks towards the train cars. Before she reaches them, she steps into a puddle of blood. The first thing that comes to her mind is Arabess.

Her heart beats faster as she clutches her forehead, running her hands through her hair. She purses her lips and shakes her head. It all seemed to be going good, for once. And now, everything seemed to be falling apart.

She can't help but imagine her world in a cycle. An unending cycle of hell and torment. With Damon, maybe the way he makes her smile without a pensive thought, life isn't as terrible as it seems here.

_I can get through this, _She thinks, stepping over the puddle. _I'll find them. Arabess, Damon, Ross._

She blinks, continuing towards the train cars.

"I can get through this," She tells herself, her eyebrow twitching.

The lilac-like air disassembles into a foggy, white abyss. Damon is leaning against a tree, his arms folded, wondering why he can't see her. Or touch her. His eyes narrow at her as she steps into the train car and he thinks about shouting her name again. But he knows there is no sense in that. He leans off the tree and follows her in hopes that he'll become corporeal again. And he'll see her.


	16. In The Moment

The air is still. So is Bonnie. The sun's heat beams down on her presence. Sweat drops from her chin to the split between her toes. She blinks.

To Bonnie, it feels like it's been months by herself. Alone in an unfamiliar land. Of course, she knows how it feels to be alone. To be with her self, her favorite tea, and her favorite book. Or to be in a park under the fiery sky, or sitting on her porch, or just listening to her music. She understands being alone.

It's loneliness that's been de-familiarized, detached from its derivative in Bonnie's mind. It's the sound of waves becoming intrusive and the innocuous air developing a voice. The sudden reliance on her instinct, never losing the faith resonated within it. Being alone, from what Bonnie knows, as she stands rocking back and forth and back and forth with little effort, is a _choice._

_Loneliness,_ Bonnie begins as her thoughts form into their own, manifesting so that they consume her, _is fate._

Bonnie stands in front of a small cottage, a shard of glass in her hand. As she walks towards the cottage, fresh blood drips from the glass.

She stops. Her jaws tighten as she sees another indiscernible sign on the ground in front of her. She's been getting these. Cryptic messages, or warning signs. Bonnie reads them as an omen— that something evil is approaching. And if loneliness has taught her anything, it's to keep her guard up at all times.

The message Bonnie stands over now is burned into the grass; she can still see the smoke rising above. It read 'Go'. She bends down, hovering her hands over the message.

She's thinking so much about who could be the one writing these messages, and though she associates them with apocalyptic imminence, the only person she can think of Grams. Her Grams is the one who told her she'd be at peace, but she hasn't felt it once. Maybe this is her Grams way of trying to help her find it.

Her mind is in a flux, though, of emotion, of grief, of so many things. Her face resembles nothing but content, even in these damaging conditions. But inside, it's a whole different world. A planet of its own emotion and grief and latitude.

Bonnie looks up at the cottage, ignoring the message. It's brown and is surrounded by white trees. She walks up to the door, knocking on its wooden surface. The door nudges open and Bonnie pulls away. She peaks through the dusty opening, seeing a white wall. She pushes the door open further and steps in, curious as to what or whom may be inside

"Is anybody here?" Bonnie says, holding up the glass. Her face shifted into survival mode, a face that almost cemented itself upon her. Deep down, Bonnie knows that if that happens her life will change dramatically. And what's locked inside that dormant cage of hers, will claw its way out until there is nothing left of her humanistic soul.

But it's appropriate now. It's a must. She may be trespassing in this house and if she isn't prepared for an attack, it could be the last of her. And she'll be damned if this is the way she goes out.

She looks down the hall seeing a kitchen, as she walks and looks to her left there is a room. A study, maybe. Across from that is another room, a living room.

_Thud!_

She hears a noise.

Her head shifts to the right, narrowing her eyes at the idyllic white sofa in her view. Her foot steps into the living room, landing on a loose plank in the floor. She freezes, staring at her foot. She swallows, taking a deep breath. The plank could creak, and she'd reveal herself, if she moves too fast. Slowly, she lifts her foot off of the plank and it lands back in its place silently.

Bonnie sighs in relief and continues into the living room. She looks around the room, walking into the sun's rays shining through the casement window.

A panther cub sways its way to Bonnie from the dark shadows of the room. She looks to her left, startled but happy to see it. She bends down, smiling and hugging it as it falls into her grasp. The cub buries its head into Bonnie's neck and she smiles as if she's been reunited with a close, close friend.

She pulls away from the cub and sighs, rubbing her hands against its soft fur.

"Hey," Bonnie says in a caring voice. "Any sign of him?" Bonnie looked into the cub's eyes and her excitement faded into a depressed state. She sits back, sighing. She shakes her head, fighting away tears pleading to fall. "We're never going to find him are we? We'll never find any of them."

Bonnie's head slowly drops to the floor as the corners of her mouth recede even more. Her bottom lip twitches to the side. The hazel orbs residing in Bonnie's eyes look up at the cub.

"What are we going to do?" She whispers. Then she waits. As if she's waiting for the cub to respond. For the panther to tell her that she'll find Damon, or that she'll find Arabess, Luca, and Ross and that everything will be okay.

Hope in this treacherous place is blinding. It's deceiving and deserves ridicule. Bonnie knows this, but that's the one thing that has kept her surviving. Her desire to find her friends. Her desire to finish what she started and make good on her promises.

Damon left her in a vulnerable and confused state. Arabess' disappearance put her on a chase for loyalty. And Luca… it just doesn't feel right leaving someone like her behind. A witch.

Bonnie jumps. The sound equivalent of nails on a chalkboard pierces Bonnie's eardrums. She turns around, seeing a message being written by some invisible force on the window. Her face coils up in anger.

"WHO are you?!" Bonnie screams at the window, and in an instant, finds herself inches away from the window. Her mouth opens as soon as she realizes, and she wonders how she got there that fast.

_My magic?_ Bonnie thinks.

After a moment, she hears rumbling above her, like thunder in a dark, cloudy storm. Bonnie looks up, following the loud sounds. She runs into the hallway, looking for an entry way into an attic.

The panther runs its fur along Bonnie's moist leg. She looks down, a menacing look on her face.

"There is someone up there," She says.

She runs into the kitchen, looking around the ceiling for something that could lead her to the attic. She finds a string hanging down in the corner and runs over to it. There's a loud thump— then a crash.

Bonnie runs back into the hallway and sees a person landing on the ground hard. She sprints down the hall as fast as she could. Bonnie notices it's not an adult, but a kid, who struggles to get back up on their feet after that hard landing.

Bonnie reaches the doorway but the little kid got away.

Bonnie stops. Her chest heaves up and down, breath escapes from the small opening of her mouth. She watches as the little kid runs so dangerously swift, so acutely agile, as if there is something bigger chasing the kid. Something of the complete opposite nature of Bonnie herself.

She raises her chin.

"I swear."


End file.
